


That Kind of Dangerous

by Alsike



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amateur Psychoanalysis, Anal, Banter, Bisexual Female Character, Dubious Consent, Emma and Ruby are Friends, F/F, Fingerfucking, Fluff, Fuckbuddies, Hate Sex, Lacey OMG, Light Bondage, Multiple Personalities, Open Relationships, Porn With Plot, Public Sex, Recovered Memories, Rough Sex, Ruby banged Storybrooke and that's Awesome, Safer Sex, Sex Is Not The Enemy, Spanking, Strap-Ons, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 11:47:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alsike/pseuds/Alsike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Red finds herself rather depressed after Lacey bodysnatches her new friend(/not-so-secret crush) and Emma prescribes a night of letting loose and getting back in touch with her Ruby side.  She does NOT prescribe picking up an on-the-prowl, bored with Gold, Lacey.  But she does.  It escalates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I found out about Lacey, I was waiting for the fic where Ruby got in touch with her booty-shorts self, and hit that hard. I didn't appear. :( So I wrote it. Then it turned into ~15k of 'problems with knowing oneself when one has two sets of memories.' And sex.
> 
> (Be aware that this is entirely my interpretation of how things should have happened, and has approximately nothing to do with what actually happened. Forget everything after Lacey showed up. And be kind to my OOCness.)

Red was sick of being herself.  She was sick of hurting the people close to her, or not being able to protect them.  She was sick of getting her heart broken.  She sat at the counter at her break, next to Emma, and said as much.  “I’m just sick of the way my _life_ keeps turning out.  Nothing changes.  It’s just one suckerpunch after another!”

Emma gave her a sympathetic grimace, then glanced over to where her parents were canoodling in the corner.  “I feel you.”  She rolled her eyes.  “This town.  Sometimes it feels like it was written by a ten year old.  At least when Madame Mayor was controlling everyone’s lives it wasn’t all PG-13.”

Red snorted.  “It’s not PG-13 now.”

Emma raised an eyebrow.  “Uh, yeah it is.  They’re not even using tongue over there.  And violence doesn’t matter half as much for ratings as, like, tits.”  Emma’s smile went sly and Red suddenly felt put on the spot.  “And _you_ can’t talk, can you?  Tell me you didn’t get like forty times the action when you were just Ruby.”

Red felt her cheeks start to heat up.  She looked away.  “No,” she muttered.

“Huh?”

Red felt her wolf hackles raise and she turned on Emma, wrinkling her nose.  “No!  Because forty times zero is still zero, and it definitely wasn’t zero with Ruby.”

Emma frowned.  “You lost me with the math.  Are you saying that since Ruby you haven’t gotten _any_?”

Red pushed herself away from the counter and scowled.  “Let me know when you find someone into bestiality, because no one normal wants to fuck a werewolf.”

Emma looked considering for a moment.  “I dunno.  It sounds kind of interesting—”

“Oh god, you’re like my goddaughter or something.”

Emma raised her eyebrows.  “Your goddaughter who you have inappropriate conversations about not getting laid enough with?  This family thing is getting better.”

Red laughed quietly.  “That’s not even it, really.  Ruby, she wanted to get out of here and couldn’t.  So she looked for excitement wherever she could find it.  And she got some.  I liked that about her.  Ruby wanted more, and she did her best to get it.  I wanted more, and what did I get?”

Her eyes drifted across the diner to linger on a particular empty booth.  Emma followed her gaze and sighed.  “Fuck,” she said.  “Sorry about that.”

It was kind of like a death.  But _worse_.

“You had a thing for her, didn’t you?”

Red shot Emma a glare.  “She was my _friend_.”

Emma raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her hot chocolate.  Then she sputtered.  “Oh man, I totally thought this was a beer.  This conversation is not a hot chocolate conversation.”

“Diner doesn’t serve beer.  Complain to the Mayor if you’re pissed.”

“That whole situation was a _mess_ ,” Emma said.  “I wish I had gotten to Hook earlier.”

Red shrugged.  “I just…  I thought she’d come back.  We all came back from being our other selves, and she went the other direction.  But she didn’t come back.  She’s banging Mr. Gold, her _True Love_ , but the library’s still shut, and Lacey’s taken over as Storybrooke’s skanky ho, and it just feels so permanent.  And the worst – the worst is how Lacey talks about her, like she was some, _some—”_

“Whoa, whoa.  Cool it, Red.  Your gran can’t afford to replace the counter top that often.”

Red jerked up and retracted her claws, wincing at the deep gouges she left in the linoleum.  “Shit.”  She was going to get so punished for that.

The bell jingled and Archie came in, giving them a wave, but Red’s eyes were fixed on the view of the street outside it and the voices coming in through the door.

“No I _don’t_ want to eat at the _diner_.  It’s disgusting.  Everything is like dripping with fat.  Isn’t there anywhere _good_ to eat in this town?”

Both Red and Emma flinched.

“But Lacey, darling…” and smooth creamy pale legs, in a short short skirt, stalked past the door.

“You know,” Emma said musingly, “sometimes I wonder if it didn’t happen like this just to help keep Mr. Gold out of trouble.  Because she is _way_ more than he can handle.”

Red laughed weakly.  “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Just… sorry that you were the one who had to lose out.”

“It wasn’t like I was the only person she was friends with.”

“Yeah…”  Emma said and gave her the double eyebrow that Red _hated_.

“Look,” Emma said after the annoyed silence had stretched out for long enough.  “Here’s a question that I asked Snow once and, well, didn’t really get the answer I wanted.  Mainly because I want an excuse to make Regina pay out both nostrils for massive therapy for schizophrenia, but… do you ever miss being Ruby?”

Red blinked.  “I _am_ Ruby.”

Emma looked bemused.  “That wasn’t how it sounded before, when you were discussing your sudden lack of a sex life.”

Red rolled her eyes.  “Getting outed as a werewolf didn’t have anything to do with not being Ruby anymore.”

“There!  You didn’t again!  ‘Not being Ruby anymore.’”

Red wrinkled her nose.  “What did Snow say?”

Emma sighed, eyes drifting over to their subject of conversation once more, who was now busy sitting on David’s lap and playing with his collar.  “She said, ‘thank god she’s gone.  I hated her!  I can’t believe Regina could turn me into such a spineless little… _ugh_.’”

Red’s eyes widened.  “She _said_ that?”

“Word for word.”

“But, man.  You were friends.  I mean, _we_ weren’t.  I think Ruby scared her, but you guys were getting close.”

Emma nodded.  “Snow might not like Mary Margaret, but I did.  She was just… easy.  I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t get all in my face and judgey, like Snow.  So, I guess I kind of know how you feel about Belle, about losing someone to their alternate self.”

“Yeah…”  Red sighed, and then had an amusing thought.  She glanced at Emma.  “You… never wanted to hit that, did you?”

“What!” Emma went wide-eyed.  Rather deer-in-the-headlights, actually. 

Red (or maybe Ruby) grinned.  “Hey, hey.  It’s cool.  Like you said, they’re different people, and whoever Mary Margaret was, or whatever happened to her, she’s not your mom.”

Emma gave her a look.  “I’m not sure how many people would agree with you.  But thanks.  Still, do you really see them as different people?  You said you’re still Ruby.”

“Ruby isn’t my dominant personality anymore.  But all the parts that made her up, they’re still in there.  And Ruby’s kind of like me with out all the baggage fucking me up.  She didn’t murder the boy she liked.  She didn’t lose her family.  Mary Margaret is Snow without— well, without Regina.  She’s the person Snow might have been without all the hardening that she had to go through.  I _know_ that. I knew her when she was still only half-shelled.  And she was… exactly how you described her.  Easy, forgiving, gentle.  But still strong.  She was always strong.  I think knowing that vulnerability is still inside her scares her.  She can’t be vulnerable, not with Regina living three streets away.”

Emma grimaced.  “Sounds about right.  But psychoanalyzing my mom is making me kind of nervous.”

Red laughed.  She stood and grabbed her apron, tying it back on.  “My break’s over.  Can I get you a refill?”

Emma glanced down at her hot chocolate and shook her head.  “Naw, I should get back to work as well.  But… here’s a thought.  You want to go out Friday night and, say, take Ruby out for a spin.”

Red, halfway through refilling the water pitcher, went still.  She turned around.  “What?”

“Rabbit Hole?  Drinking?  Dancing?  Scoping out the populace for those guys who aren’t turned off by bestiality?”

“That was a _joke_.”

Emma grinned.  “Maybe.  I’m just saying, get your mind off things.  _Fuck_ someone.  I’m sure you remember how.  It might loosen you up a bit.”

Red rolled her eyes.  “I’m plenty loose.  But… I’ll think about it.”

“Great!”  Emma pushed the door open.  “And I’m expecting some booty shorts worthy of Ruby!  None of this lumberjack shit!”

Red looked down at herself and the very nice, if sedate, olive corduroy button-down.  “You suck!” she yelled back.

“You swallow!”

“Not anymore!”

“Ahem.” 

Red turned around and smiled awkwardly at her grandmother who was looking wryly disapproving.  “Sorry,” she said.

“There are some things about one’s granddaughter that one never needs to know.”

*          *            *

The Rabbit Hole was _packed_.  They had actually gotten in a decent DJ for once (it was someone’s kid who had finally found his calling, possibly without any thanks to the curse breaking), and it felt like meat market night, and Red felt like Ruby.

It had been a process, a compromise, involving a long root around the back of her closet.  But the more she explored, the more she realized that twenty-eight years of fashions that still fit was not something to abandon recklessly, and although some things were too eighties to be saved and her nineties grunge gear was already mostly back in circulation, the mix and match was offering up some interesting opportunities.  She hadn’t even remembered that she _owned_ that fishnet shirt.  She pulled it on over a red, deep-v halter-top and added a black PVC skirt, stockings and boots.  She was tempted to replace the halter-top with a bustier, but this was still an exploratory mission, if things went well, she’d try it next time. 

It was the makeup, lining her mouth with the deep red lipstick, darkening her eyes until she looked more wolf than human, that made her feel _right_ about this somehow.  She was just as much Ruby as Red.  She was raw animal power, human or wolf.  She curled her hair.

There was another box in the Ruby closet that she hadn’t seen for a while.  Give a girl a credit card and the Internet, and god knows what she’ll do.

Emma, in a beater and jeans as _always_ , wolf whistled when she came to pick Ruby up. 

Ruby flipped her off.  Then she raised her eyebrows.  “Come _on_ ,” she said.  “I made an effort.  Aren’t you looking to pull tonight?”

Emma wrinkled her nose.  “I want _you_ to pull tonight.  I, however, am the savior, and people trying to pick up the savior have been decidedly creepy lately.”

Ruby laughed.  “Sorry.”

“Also,” Emma glanced at her phone.  “I kind of got into it with Regina today, and I’m pretty sure she’s going to call to fuck up my night soon.  So, you know, I’m not investing.”

“Ah,” Ruby said.  “You guys are weird.  Let’s go.”

Right before they made it inside, Emma’s phone rang.

“Regina?  No!  I am not wasting taxpayer dollars right now!”

Emma rolled her eyes, pulled something out of her pocket and pressed it into Ruby’s hand.  It was a strip of condoms.  Ruby sighed and stuck them in her purse.  Then she went in alone.

It seemed like all of Storybrooke had come out tonight, and Ruby was getting not a few appreciative glances.  One guy, a dwarf, gave her a slap on the ass.  “We missed you!” he said.  She gave him a look and he grinned back.  “Not _you_ ,” he said, pointing at her face.  “You.”  He pointed at her ass.

“ _Thanks_ ,” Ruby said, and moved along.  She made it to the bar and ordered a shot.  The truth was, she realized, she had been in Storybrooke for twenty-eight years.  That was a lot of time to scrape the bottom of the barrel.  And it all looked like scrapings now.  She really, really needed to be drunk.

Then she realized that she was standing next to Lacey.  She ordered three more shots and knocked them back as soon as they were poured.  Things were not going well.

Lacey swiveled around on her bar stool and gave her that wry, half-disgusted look that did not belong _anywhere_ on Belle’s face, and Ruby hated her for stealing it.  “And what did you come dressed as tonight?  A hooker?”

Ruby bared her teeth, and forced it to look like a smile.  Her eyes drifted over the woman in Belle’s body, and she nearly snorted at the hypocrisy of it.  That was the shortest dress she had ever seen.  Standing, it would barely cover Lacey’s ass, and sitting, it _didn’t_.  It dipped low in front as well, setting off the smooth expanse of creamy skin.  Her hair was mostly up, a few strands curling around her face, and her makeup was heavy and dark, making her eyes flash uncannily blue and her smirk even more cruel than usual.  “Oh, _no_ ,” Ruby snarked back.  “I hoped I was going to be the only one tonight.”

Lacey laughed.  “Mine doesn’t look like a costume.”

“ _Meatsuit_ ,” Ruby mumbled to herself, and wished she had another drink.  The four shots still hadn’t hit her properly.

Lacey’s eyes went narrow.  “I don’t know what my alter ever saw in you.  It must have been your ass, because there’s nothing else.”

Ruby clenched her teeth and turned, bending to look into Lacey’s face, and wolf-smiling.  “I have pretty awesome tits too, you know.”

Lacey’s eyes dropped to her cleavage.  Ruby snorted and straightened up.  “What are you even doing here?  This doesn’t seem like Gold’s scene.  And I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want his girl coming out alone to meat market night.”

“I’m not _Gold’s girl_.”  Lacey sneered.  “I do what I want.  He may be the richest man in town.  And he’s powerful.  So I’m not letting that leash out.  But I want a fucking tonight, not his idea of awesome magic true love sex.”

Ruby blinked at her.  “He’s not up to snuff?”

Lacey shrugged her utterly bare shoulders.  “Bored.”

“And he doesn’t _mind_?”

Lacey huffed amusement.  “Oh, he’s pissed.  But he can’t tell me no.  I blew him before I left too, so it should take him a while to work himself up to vengeful again.”

The image that popped into Ruby’s head made her stomach revolt and her thighs clench together.  She didn’t want to see that shit, but Lacey, at least, could handle herself.  It was a tool to her.  There wasn't any of that ‘give him everything and hope he doesn’t shit on it’ that had always made her panicky and upset when she saw Belle and Gold together.  He didn’t deserve her.  But he deserved this.  He deserved Lacey’s derisive comments on his sexual prowess.  He deserved her fucking around on him and making him miserable.  She nodded.  “Good.”

Lacey gave her a look – disbelieving and amused – that was one of Belle’s, but made different by the makeup.  “You’re hot,” she said.

Ruby blinked.  “You said I looked like a hooker.”

“I said you looked like you were dressed up as a hooker.  And whatever.  Hookers are hot.  But you’re hot, and if the rumors are true, you’ve pretty much banged everything there is to bang in this town, right?”

“Uh.”

Lacey waved her hand.  “Not judging.  It’s what I would have done if I wasn’t locked in a psychward, or whatever.  I figured I should get the benefit of your experience. And your hotness.  Let’s dance.  We’ll reel them in in droves, and you can tell me which ones are worth the bother.”

Ruby looked at her, and grinned at the absurdity.  “Really?” she asked.  “What’s in it for me?”

Lacey gave her an ironic glance.  “You get to dance with me.  Don’t tell me you haven’t wanted to put your hands on my _meatsuit_ since I showed up in town, honey.”

“Well,” Ruby tipped her head to the side.  “I did spend twenty-eight years in this backwater.  Anything new has got to be looking good.”

Lacey laughed.  “Good point.”  She slipped off the stool, tugged down the back of her dress – ineffectively – and caught Ruby’s arm.  “Dance now.”

The kid DJing was actually pretty good.  The music had a beat, and Lacey had roaming hands.  She stayed close enough to make snide comments in Ruby’s ear and ask for her experienced opinion on the various interested parties sidling up.  If Ruby didn’t _look_ at her, she could almost think it was normal, just dancing, touching, looking for hookups.  If she did look at her there was always that disjointed moment where it was like ‘what the fuck is Belle doing here?’ and then remembering that it wasn’t her.  Her voice didn’t have the same effect.  Something about Lacey made everything she said a little sarcastic, and even with the accent, it was instantly obvious who was speaking.

“That one?”

Ruby glanced over and grimaced.  “Oh yeah, did that one.  Not really the most hygienic down below, if you know what I mean.”

Lacey snorted and rubbed up against her.  “I’m thinking I could live without knowing.”

Then Ruby saw Ashley.  She had glanced over from where she was dancing with Sean and her eyes widened at the sight of them, her cheeks reddened, and she looked away quickly.

“ _That_ one?”

Ruby glanced down to see where Lacey was looking, but she was looking right at Ashley as well.  She winced.  “It was twenty-eight years.”

“Wasn’t she the one who was _pregnant_ for twenty-eight years?”

“If you were pregnant for twenty eight years wouldn’t you need some release?”

Lacey grabbed her arm and doubled over laughing.  “But you _hit_ that?”

“We had an arrangement,” Ruby said, reddening slightly.  “She worked at the diner.  We’d hook up after closing.”

“You hit that _often_?”

“Yeah.”  Ruby wrinkled her nose.  “Not that she’ll ever admit it.”

Lacey was still snickering and hanging onto her arm.  “What’d you do?  Eat her out?”

“No…” Ruby glanced at Lacey, who seemed more curious than anything.  But why did she want details?  “She’s pretty straight.  Likes dick.  So I fucked her.”

Lacey’s face went blank.  “With what?”

Ruby gave an awkward chuckle.  Did she really have no idea?  “With a strap on?  Have you been missing out on this brave new world of porn?”

Lacey’s expression turned enlightened.  “ _Really_?  You _have_ one?”

“Um.  Twenty-eight years.  And… the Internet.”

“ _Awesome_.”

She was looking really hilariously thrilled, and Ruby laughed awkwardly.  “Anyone else you want the dish on?”

Lacey glanced around the room, looking less than intrigued.  “Is there anyone here that you would take home again?”

Ruby grimaced.  “Not really.”

“Then no.  I want you.”

Ruby froze.  “What?”

Lacey cocked her head.  “I said I was _bored_.  You fucked a pregnant chick with a strap on.  Regularly.  I thought you were totally boring when you kept bringing me books.  But I’ve revised my evaluation.  You are not boring.  Be not boring on me.  Or… in me.”  She smirked.

Ruby gaped.  Lacey slithered forward and Ruby’s hands slid down to her ass.  It was perfectly firm and round and Ruby sank her fingers into it.  “Come on.  You kind of hate me, right?  Here’s your chance to take all that anger out on me.”

And Ruby could see Lacey mussed and marked and writhing under her, and her wolf growled.  “Yeah,” she said.  “Sure.  I’ve been wanting to get that box back out of my closet.”

*          *            *

Lacey’s thighs were soft and creamy under her hands, and she was _not_ wearing stockings.  Ruby’s hands slid up under her skirt, cupping her mostly bare ass, and bit lightly at her neck.  Lacey hummed pleasure and squirmed against her.

“Oh, one rule,” she said, her voice breathy.  “No kissing.”

“No kissing?” Ruby laughed into her skin.  “You _are_ a hooker.”

“Not my rule.  Gold got all weird about it.  I don’t care.  I’m not that into kissing.”  Lacey rolled her eyes, and Ruby slid her hand between her legs and cupped her, making her squeak.

“But you’re following it?”

“It’s Gold.  You think he won’t know?  I’m not losing his funding before I have to.”

“’Kay.  I can handle that.  I was kind of planning on taking you from behind anyway.”

Lacey grinned up at her.  “Doggy-style?”

“I’m a _wolf_ , girl.  It’s wolf-style.”  Ruby grinned and caught her arm.  “Come on.”  She pulled her in through the back door of Granny’s and up the stairs to her room, grateful for the wolf hearing that made certain they wouldn’t meet anyone on the way, and a little chagrined to realize that there was a reason that her grandmother’s room was on exactly the opposite side of the building as hers.

She fumbled with the key to her room, Lacey pressed up against her back and fondling her breasts.  “Yeah, guess they are kind of nice,” she mumbled.

The door finally came open and they stumbled through.  “Naked time?” asked Lacey, eagerly, and went for her zip.

“Hey,” Ruby caught her hands.  “Dibs.”

Lacey grinned up at her, looking like, well, Lacey.  But not unlike Belle.  She sounded like Belle.  The eager, happy charm she had was impossibly familiar.  Certainly she had never heard the words ‘Naked time’ come out of Belle’s mouth, but if they had, they would’ve sounded just like that. 

Perhaps just because she had been told not to, Ruby really wanted to kiss her.

She went for the zip instead.  The minidress pooled around Lacey’s feet, leaving her in a strapless electric blue bra and matching panties.  It was a front closure bra.  Ruby undid it with her teeth.  It was a party trick, but Lacey laughed, and slid her fingers into Ruby’s hair.  Ruby nuzzled her breasts and nipped at them, then dropped down to bite the elastic of her underwear and drag them off.

Bare and brazen, all creamy skin and dancing eyes, Lacey stepped out of the underwear, then stepped backwards and hoisted herself up onto the bed.  Ruby stood.

“Hands and knees,” she said.  “Look at the wall.  No touching yourself.”

“Hey!  I don’t get to watch you put it on?”

Ruby laughed.  “No way.”  She stripped off quickly, not caring about whether her stockings survived, and found the box and Emma’s – oh so helpful – strip of condoms.  She considered options for a moment, and then went a little bigger than Ashley liked, one Ruby would use on herself.  Lacey didn’t want to be _bored_.  It felt good, settling into place, and she realized how long it had been – since _anything_.

“Come on,” Lacey whined.  “Your wall is a boring conversationalist.”

“I will do you the honor of not watching you when you’re trying to get one of these on for the first time, so shut it,” Ruby responded.  “But I’m done.”

“Can I see?”

Lacey didn’t wait for a response.  She swiveled.  Her eyes widened.  “Fuck, that’s sexy.”

“Yeah?”  Ashley always preferred to look at the wall the whole time.

“Totally.”  Lacey licked her lips and her eyes fell to the packet in Ruby’s hand.  “You use condoms on it?”

“Mmm.  Saves cleaning time.  And you can change people or places quicker.”

“Oh.”  Lacey looked a bit shocked by that, but decidedly interested.  “Can I put it on?”

“Um, sure.”

Lacey slid off the bed and dropped to her knees.  She took the pack and opened it, expertly, and took hold of the dildo firmly.  It ground right into Ruby who involuntarily let out a little sound, half startled and half appreciative.  Lacey glanced up.  “You like this too,” she said, not asking a question.

“It’s a good fit,” Ruby replied.  “And I like fucking girls.  I like being on top and in control.  Wolf thing, I guess.”

“Hot thing,” Lacey said, and proceeded to unroll the condom with her mouth.

Um, yeah, she could see how even Gold might not be so into vengeance after that.  Lacey’s hair was half undone, falling on her neck, her makeup smokey and a little smeared.  Her body was all soft curves, and her eyes danced, taking in everything, making Ruby feel incredibly… appreciated.

“Come on,” she said, “Back up on the bed.”  She gave Lacey’s ass a smack, and Lacey flashed her a grin, swung her hips, and climbed back up.  She got on her knees and spread them.

Ruby’s breath hitched at the glistening smears on the inside of her thighs.  Fuck, she was turned on.  She let her hands slid over Lacey’s ass and thighs, and heard Lacey purr.  Then she ran her fingers through her cleft.  It was thick with wetness.  Lacey squirmed and Ruby slid a long finger into her.

“Mm, you’re teasing me,” Lacey mumbled.  But she gushed just a little more as Ruby started rubbing the pad of her fingertip around the inside.  “Fuck.”  Lacey went still and hissed in a rough breath.  “Either get another or get something bigger, and I kind of really wanted to try your _cock_.”

Ruby slid two fingers in, scissored them, and then slipped them out again.

“ _Hey_ ,” Lacey hissed.  But then she felt the head of the cock pressing into her entrance and went, “ _Oh_.”

Ruby guided it carefully and pushed just enough to have her get an idea of how big it was, not huge, totally manageable.  Lacey let out a little sound and pushed back, but very tentatively.

“It’s big.”

“ _Yeah?_ ” the tone came out unutterably dirty, unutterably _Ruby_ , and Ruby grinned when she saw and felt Lacey’s hips buck, just a little.  “Bigger than you’re used to?”

“Definitely.”  Lacey’s voice was breathy and she was shifting slightly, trying to work her way back onto the cock, but Ruby wouldn’t let her.

“Does it scare you?”

Lacey laughed.  “No.  I like it when it hurts.”

“You’re my kind of girl,” Ruby said, grinning, and took hold of her waist, nails cutting into that soft, soft skin, and thrust straight in, hips slamming into her perfect ass.

Lacey let out a keen like an animal and dropped to her elbows, clawing at the blankets.  “Fuck.  _Fuck_.  That’s fucking _huge_.”

Ruby’s breath was coming in short pants.  This was when she should be nice, she should ask if it was too much, she should go slow, but she had _loved_ that scream, and she wanted more.  “Good,” she hissed, and started pounding.

Lacey was tearing up the blankets, and Ruby was glad they were going this way, or her back would be the thing getting shredded.  Each thrust sent a gasping sob out of Lacey.  She was so tight, and Ruby would bet that she had only ever been fucked by Gold, and she also now had a pretty good idea of the size of his penis, and it made her grin like a maniac.  The base of her cock was hitting her just right, but the feeling was nothing compared to the desperate, pleading, hurting sounds Lacey was making under her.  The way she groped for something to hang onto, and the way she pushed back into each thrust.  Ruby bent over her, mouthed her shoulder, let her hands knead her breasts.

“Fuck!  Ruby, _Ruby_.”

And she slid out long and slow, and then in, so slow, and Lacey cried, and stuffed her fist in her mouth, biting down on it.

“Hey, don’t do that.  I want to hear you scream.”

And Lacey looked up, over her shoulder at her, eyes wide and amazed, and Ruby wanted to kiss her, but couldn’t – at all, the position was way too fucked up, and bit her instead, hard, on the top of her shoulder.  And Lacey screamed.

Ruby caught her hips again and jerked her against her, pulling her in, grinding up and down against the base of the cock, then drawing out, and slamming back in.  Her fingers slid around her hip and down through the cleft of her thigh, then parted her lips, playing across her clit.  She fucked her, steady, hard, until Lacey was a tight ball on the bedspread, holding on for dear life.  Ruby raked her nails down her sides, and Lacey came, spasming, gasping, soaking Ruby’s thighs.  And then collapsing, breathing shallowly, holding herself to herself. 

Ruby moved to disengage, but a hand shot out and curled around her thigh, holding her in place.

“Hold on a bit,” Lacey mumbled.  “Wait for it.”

Ruby rubbed a hand up and down her spine, gently, letting her relax.  She felt her unclench, and slowly, slowly, withdrew her cock, then undid the snap to let it drop to the floor.  No longer overwhelmed by the need to fuck her, Ruby looked carefully, and winced a little, to see the trace of red.  She had probably overestimated the size.  Lacey was still tight – shoulders tensed – and not looking up, so Ruby settled down on the bed and lay beside her, letting her fingers slide over the back of her neck, tangling in the sweat-damp curls there.  Lacey breathed out slowly and rolled toward her, sweaty bodies catching and sticking.  She buried her face in Ruby’s neck.  “Fuck,” she murmured softly.  “Amazing.”

“You good?” Ruby murmured, a little chagrined at how much she wanted the answer to be yes.  She hadn’t been supposed to care about _Lacey_.  But she really kind of did.

Lacey looked up at her, amused, self-satisfied smirk on her face.  “Mmm.”

Her fingers started roaming down Ruby’s sides, over her ass, and then ducking between her thighs.  Fingertips parted her lips, exploring gently, tentatively, and Ruby let out a soft moan into Lacey’s hair.  Emboldened, they slid into her.  They started to work quickly, steadily, stretching and curling and turning until Lacey sorted out what made Ruby buck into her hand, and then fingerfucking her until she came with a tight sound releasing from her chest and a rush of fluid.

“Fuck, you’re hot,” Lacey mumbled into her chest.

“You too.”

*          *            *

“Ruby!  Your shift started ten minutes ago!  Get your ass out of bed!” roared Granny, banging on the door, and Ruby barely processed it through her hangover.  Lacey however, jerked up, bringing the covers with her.

“Fuck!” she hissed.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”  She slithered out of bed and started searching for her underwear.

“Just borrow shit,” Ruby mumbled into her pillow.  “’ve got twenty-eight years of clothes.”

“Yeah, because I can fit into your booty shorts,” Lacey shot back.  “And not that everyone wouldn’t immediately know where I spent the night.”

Rubbing her face, Ruby finally sat up and blinked at her.  “Mmm,” she said, eyeing the bitemark on the juncture between Lacey’s neck and shoulder coming out in a dramatically purple color.  “Try that box,” she said, pointing to one still left open from last night’s explorations.  “Early nineties.  Baggy cargoes.”

Lacey took a step toward it, then buckled over.  “Fuck,” she hissed.  “That _hurts_.”  She cast a glare over her shoulder.  “Did you really have to fuck me with that fucking _monster_?”

Ruby raised an eyebrow.  “Most guys come with them standard.  But no, I could have gone smaller.  Next time?”

Lacey snorted.  “Yeah.  Sounds good.”

She pulled on a pair of cargo pants that had been loose on Ruby and fit really nicely around her ass, and a Green Day t-shirt, that Ruby was suddenly embarrassed about owning, picked up her stilettos and dress, threaded her fingers once through her hair, grimaced at the state of her eye makeup, and sauntered out the door.

Ruby blinked.  Had she just gotten a _yes_ to ‘next time’?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> N.B. It's now becoming really obvious that I wrote most of this fic while trolling Texts From Last Night. Now I kind of want to write the texts that could have happened in this story.
> 
> (999) Went home with crush's evil doppleganger. Lots of bruises. Made her bleed. Great time was had by all. ;)
> 
> Also, keep an eye on the tags if you have a squick.

The first thing Red spotted when she finally made it to the diner was Emma waiting on a stool.  Tying on her apron, Red stepped behind the counter and dodged a thrown pancake from her grandmother.  She was only like thirty minutes late.  She had gotten a shower.  Being late was better than showing up with Lacey’s lipstick smeared across her neck.  She couldn’t do much about the hickies though.

“So, um,” Emma said, when she brought her her coffee.  “I hear you left with Lacey last night.”

Great.  Everyone knew.

“And I think I saw her walk of shame past in bare feet and a Green Day t-shirt.”  Emma grinned.  “Seriously, Green Day?”

Red bared her teeth.  “Fuck off.”

“Oh, I see.  Hungover?”

“I have customers.”

“No you don’t.  You banged _Lacey_ last night.  And I know I said hooking up with someone was a good idea, but…”

“Ruby banged Lacey last night,” Red said, feeling like it was a lie as she said it.  “Ruby is a slut.  Lacey is a slut.  It worked out.  It wasn’t me.”

Emma’s face went still.  “I don’t like to hear you say stuff like that.  Embracing your sexuality is not being a slut.  And I hate to break it to you, but you and Ruby, _are the same person_.  So, Ruby having some athletic bitey sex with Lacey means that Red had athletic bitey sex with Lacey.”

Red sank a little into herself.  It was true.  Ruby hadn’t gone out last night.  _She_ had gone out.  And she was Ruby as much as she was Red.  If she wasn’t, that meant Red had really punched her v-card with a bang last night, and that was way too awkward to contemplate.  “I know.”

“Unfortunately, that also means that you had athletic bitey sex with the woman who bodysnatched the girl you had a crush on.”

“I didn’t have a—” Red sighed.  She might as well give it up.  “It was fine.  It was… hate sex.”  Kind of, not really.  Maybe it had been intended to be that, but it hadn’t ended up that way.  Hate sex wasn’t supposed to end in a sleepover.  “I didn’t spend the evening pretending she was Belle.  I didn’t even really think about her, once she got naked.  It was just sex, and I’m sure it will have been good for me, once I’m not hungover anymore.”

“Good,” Emma said, sounding relieved, possibly too easily.  She leaned back against her seat and sipped her coffee.  “So tell me.  Lacey, firecracker in bed?”

“Um,” Red considered this.  She wanted to say something like, she talks big, but she’s not that experienced, she seems to like it rough, but more nails and biting than cock.  She’s a quick learner, and interested, and not selfish.  And she says she doesn’t like kissing, but I’m thinking I could change that, but I’m not allowed.  But that was all really personal, and probably an overshare.  She smiled instead and leaned forward slightly, tugging at her collar to expose one of the archipelagoes of bruises running across her body.  “You bet.”

“Is Mr. Gold going to kill you?”

Red laughed.  “Definitely.”

*          *            *

Ruby was pretty sure Mr. Gold did try to kill her a couple of times.  Thank god for wolf reflexes.  Dodging falling statuary, kitchen explosions, etc, was _not_ fun.  Either she was a lot more accident prone than usual, or Mr. Gold was trying to off her without getting Lacey pissed at him.

Emma, when she noticed, decided to tail her for a while and unfortunately got hit by some statue shrapnel.  Now that it was starting to affect the people around her, Ruby decided that she had to talk to Lacey.

Of course, the day she decided to talk to Lacey was the day Lacey decided to walk into the diner and sit down at the counter.

“Um, hi,” said Ruby.

“Hi,” said Lacey, then looked down at Ruby’s tight short skirt.  Embarrassed, Ruby tried to tug it down slightly.  Lacey smirked at her.  “I’ve seen more than _that._ ”

“Not at my workplace, you haven’t.”

Lacey cocked her head in that slightly intrigued way that meant her imagination was up to no good.  “Might like that.”

“No,” said Granny as she walked past them. 

Ruby and Lacey exchanged a horrified look, and when Lacey broke into giggles, Ruby couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“So, we heard the answer on that.  And anyway, isn’t your boyfriend trying to kill me?”

Lacey rolled her eyes.  “Yeah.  I think I’ve got him to stop though.  I hate the way he acts like he _owns_ me.  But it wasn’t as if I was going to fuck anything for like a week after you were done with me, and that got him pretty upset.”

Ruby flushed slightly.  “Sorry,” she said.

Lacey grinned.  “I asked for it.  And _I’m_ not sorry.  Anyway, I told him that I was exploring alternative forms of sexuality with you, that it was _educational_.  Then he got all puffed up and said he could teach me anything I wanted to know, so I told him that I really wanted to explore my bisexuality.  His face got all red, but he nodded, so I think he’s not going to try to kill you anymore.”

“Um,” Ruby said.  “I’m not sure if you’re asking me to hook up again, but just up front, anything that involves Mr. Gold is a deal breaker.  I do not want him anywhere near me when I’m naked.  Ever.”

“Not even an exhibition?  Darn.” Lacey reached out and caught her arm.  “But just so you know, yes.  I’m asking you to hook up again.  Like, frequently.  And here’s the list of things I want to do.”  Lacey handed her a sheet of paper and then slid off the stool.  “Friday?  After closing?  I’ll see you.”

“I—”

Lacey headed out the door, waving and casting a little flirty smile over her shoulder.

Ruby looked down at the list.

_1)_ _Fuck you with the strap on_

_2)_ _You eat me out_

_3)_ _Eat you out_

_4)_ _Tie you up_

_5)_ _Spanking_

_6)_ _You tie me up (maybe)_

_7)_ _Mess around with your ass_

_8)_ _You fuck my ass_

_9)_ _Nipple piercing?_

_10)_ _We’ll see…_

She felt a little like she wanted to cry, but she wasn’t sure if it was in excitement or absolute batshit terror.

“What the hell, Ruby?”

Ruby jumped and dropped the list, then grabbed the list from the air and clasped it desperately to her chest.  Snow was staring at her from right across the counter, looking appalled.

“You’re talking to _Lacey_ now?  I thought you…” Then Snow looked suddenly enlightened.  “Did she remember?  Why did no one tell me?”

“No!” Ruby exclaimed.  “She didn’t remember!  She’s still Lacey.  You know, Gold’s kept woman, hates reading, way too into… sex.”

Snow frowned at her.  “But you’re talking to her.”

“ _Talking_.  Yes.”

From down the counter, Leroy snorted into his coffee.  “ _Talking?_   Yeah, if you count ‘faster, harder, more, baby.’”

Snow straightened, blinking and looking like nothing so much as a prudish schoolmarm.  “ _What?_ ”

“Where have you _been?_ ” Leroy guffawed.  “Our Ruby fucked Gold’s girl so hard that she had to limp home the next morning and put an icepack on her crotch.  We all saw her.  And we saw the marks she left on _you_ , darling.”

Ruby felt her face going red and wanted to sink slowly below the counter and die of embarrassment.  Snow was also turning red, but looking more and more schoolmarmish.  There was a reason that Ruby and Mary Margaret hadn’t been friends.  Then, all of a sudden, Snow pushed through the gate to behind the counter, grabbed Ruby’s hand and dragged her into the back pantry.

“ _Ruby_!  You slept with _Lacey_?”

“…yes?”  Ruby kept the list tightly pressed to her chest.  There were things Snow _never_ needed to see, and this was one of them.

“ _Why_?”  Snow didn’t wait for an answer.  She started pacing around the pantry, gesticulating her thoughts to herself.  “I mean, I know that you were attracted to Belle.  It was pretty obvious.”

Ruby squeaked slightly.  It hadn’t been _obvious_ , had it?  Maybe it had.  Everyone seemed to know.

“And I can’t say I wasn’t hoping that we wouldn’t find a way to release her from Gold’s clutches so you two could have a nice quiet romance.  I mean, it wouldn’t be true love, but it could still be perfectly reasonable.  I thought you might get married and raise some… puppies.”

Ruby quietly wanted to die.  Knowing about your friends’ secret plans for your life was like knowing what they called you behind your back, only worse.

“But… Lacey isn’t Belle.  She’s not going to leave Gold, and she isn’t… stable, like Belle was.  She doesn’t seem the type to settle.  And she’s kind of a… a _ho._ ” Snow whispered the last word and scrunched her nose in displeasure.

“I _know_ all of that!” Ruby snapped back.  “But I’m not looking for _settled_.  I might have gone for it, once.”  _Red_ might have gone for it, she realized.  Red was the one who Snow was looking out for.  She was the one who had had enough of life and trouble, and who wanted something safe and quiet and normal, like living above a library and working at the diner and _not_ the sheriff’s office, like being part of a family.  But she wasn’t just Red anymore, and she wasn’t trying to stop being Ruby.  They were both part of her.  “I liked Belle a lot.  I would have wanted that with her.  But she’s gone, and she’s _not_ coming back.  And Lacey isn’t her, isn’t her at all.  But she’s just as sexy, if not more, and she’s interesting, in a different way.”

“She’s interesting to your vagina,” Snow said, in such a flat tone of voice that Ruby blanched.

“ _What?_ ”

“That’s just what you said.  She’s sexy, so she’s interesting, so you’re interested in doing sex with her.”

“I’m… kind of confused.” Ruby said.  _And horrified_.  “But, yes.  Lacey and I had sex.  It did not involve Mr. Gold.  They have an…” open relationship was really not the right phrase. “… an arrangement.”

“Just once?”

“Um.  So far.”

Snow rolled her eyes up to the heavens.  “ _Ruby_.”

“Yeah, _Ruby_.  Listen to the name coming out of your mouth.  I’m not someone that you need to harass about my hookups.  I know what I’m doing.”

“But… you haven’t done that lately.”

“Well, your daughter said I should get back on the horse.”

Snow covered her face with her hand.  “Oh.  _Emma_.”

“And Emma already gave me shit about getting back on the horse with _Lacey_ , but really, of the two people who are new to town after twenty-eight years of the same bar crowd, I think you should be happy that I went home with her instead of Emma.”

Snow groaned, still covering her face.  “Oh god, fine.  You have a point.  And it was just a ‘one night stand’ right?”

Ruby tried not to let her amusement at how Snow said the words ‘one night stand’ show on her face.  “It was a hookup,” Ruby said.  “Let’s not overthink this.  ‘Kay?”

“All right,” said Snow.  “I trust that you know what you’re doing.  I just, want to make sure you don’t get overly emotionally invested in this, because of Belle.”

The name bit lightly, as it always did.  But she was a grown up.  She didn’t need to be coddled and taken care of.  She could deal with disappointments like an adult.  “Snow, Belle is not Lacey.  No one knows this better than me.”

*          *            *

“Oh wow, I see why you like this,” Lacey said, strap-on buried to the hilt in Ruby’s cunt.  Ruby grabbed the sheets behind her head, lifted her hips, and locked her legs around Lacey’s waist.

“Come on,” Ruby hissed.  “Get to the fucking, or I’m going to use you as a sex toy.”

Lacey just grinned wider and leaned forward, pinning her hands and swiveling her hips, just to torture Ruby more.  “I’m really looking forward to tying you up.”

*          *            *

“Dental dams?  Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously,” Ruby said, swatting Lacey on the side of the head.  “I want to _stay_ at least one step away from Mr. Gold.  His fluids, your fluids, my fluids.  That is too much fluid contact, okay?”

“I don’t let him in without protection.”

“Yeah, and you make him rubber up when you blow him too?  Because your mouth, kind of open access to the rest of you.”

Lacey wrinkled her nose.  “Really?”

“Really.  You can get all sorts of gross stuff from that.  And I do _not_ know where he’s been.”

“’Kay,” Lacey snagged the box from her hand.  “Let’s do this.”

*          *            *

“I love that you have serious handcuffs and shackles and stuff!”

“Werewolf,” Ruby said, dryly.  “Kind of necessary.”

“Mmm,” Lacey sat down on the chair on the other end of the library basement and crossed her naked legs, putting her hands behind her head, arching her back so her high, delicate breasts were set off nicely.  “I think I’m just going to look at you for a while.  Ruby Lucas in chains is really, really sexy.”

*          *            *

“Gold was so pissed when I told him I wouldn’t blow him without a condom.”

“Is that why another statue almost fell on me?”

*          *            *

“I can’t tonight.  It’s wolfstime.”

Lacey bit her lower lip in a gesture that on Belle meant she was nervous, and on Lacey meant she was thinking something filthy.  Ruby leaned on the counter and watched her face, wondering, half amused, if it had actually meant that Belle was thinking something filthy too, and she had just hidden it better.  “And you’re not like… into really kinky sex during wolfstime?”

Ruby grinned, only a little embarrassed.  Apparently this girl fit Emma’s requirements perfectly.  “I kind of just like to run.”

Lacey scrunched her nose in disappointment.

*          *            *

“So, you didn’t specify directionality for number four.”

“Number four?” Lacey looked up from where she sat wrapped in a towel on the bathroom floor painting her toenails. 

Ruby leaned against the doorjamb, admiring the way her tousled wet hair fell over her naked shoulders and the water from the steamy room collected on her skin.  “Spanking?”

Lacey ducked her head, her color heightening.  “Yeah, um, maybe you could do it to me?”

Ruby’s wolf growled softly in her chest.  “I’d be honored.”

-

Lacey lay splayed over her lap, panting, her ass cheeks rose pink, slick and wet between her thighs.  Ruby walked her fingers up her thigh and teased her lips apart. 

“Mmm,” Lacey let out, sounding both inviting and sated.

Ruby cupped her ass, which made her squirm, and then rubbed her way up her back. 

“Yeah, right there,” Lacey mumbled, and Ruby shifted to put her on the bed.  She straddled her hips and set to giving her a proper backrub.

It was the affectionate feeling that made it awkward, really.  Lacey, when naked, was utterly unguarded.  She was sarcastic, but not shy, and she approached everything with amused and willing curiosity.  If she liked it, she liked it, and if she didn’t, she didn’t.

This was not a position she’d ever imagined herself to be in with Belle, having her sprawled over her naked lap, ready for a spanking, but if she had done it, she didn’t think she’d just relax, goad Ruby on, let out unreserved, pleased noises with every crack, and grind her hips into Ruby’s thighs until she came from it.  She’d be embarrassed, hide her face, hate to admit that she liked it – if she even did.  How much did kinks have to do with your body and how much was it all in your mind?

Lacey abandoned control easily, but she never seemed to doubt that she could take it back up again.  Every time Belle asserted control seemed like an effort.  Ruby doubted she’d enjoy letting it go.  It was strange, the ways they were different.

 “You’re the best.”  Lacey reached out and pulled Ruby down, then curled into her shoulder, cuddling against her.

“Lacey…” Ruby hesitated, stretching out next to her, letting her fingers tangle in her hair, stroking gently.  “Why do you hate books?”

Lacey huffed into her skin, and Ruby couldn’t tell whether it was amusement or annoyance.  “I don’t _hate_ books.”

“No?”

“I just don’t think books are a replacement for living your life.  I didn’t want people giving me books when they wouldn’t give me answers.  It was like, here, have some pretty lies so you don’t have to think.”

“That… makes a lot of sense.”

Lacey lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at Ruby.  “I’m not her.  Don’t fall for me.”

Ruby grinned, shaking her head.  “You think _I_ don’t know that?  You think any of this would have _ever_ happened with her?”  But she didn’t respond to the second statement.  Falling for her had nothing to do with any resemblance to Belle.  Lacey was that kind of dangerous all on her own.

*          *            *

Lacey leaned her chin on her hand on the counter at the diner and stirred the impromptu virgin cocktail Ruby had constructed for her with a swizzle stick.  Her sleeve fell down, revealing raw-looking ligature marks around her wrists.

Emma dropped her fork.

*          *            *

“You look… satisfied,” Emma said, a little awkwardly.

Ruby glanced over her shoulder and grinned at her.  “All thanks to your influence.”

“Yeah.”  Emma scratched her arm.  “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”

“What could be wrong?  I’m getting laid regularly, Gold doesn’t seem to be actively trying to murder me.  All good, right?”

“And you’re experimenting with exciting new kinks?”

Ruby shrugged.  “Sometimes new.  Sometimes we revisit old techniques.”

“You shackled her?”

“Mmm, that was one of the things we’ve been revisiting.”  Ruby couldn’t help the dirty smile, and Emma groaned forlornly.

“Don’t use sheriff’s department equipment, okay?”

“Don’t _worry_.  I have my own.”

Emma sighed and leaned against the wall.  “I guess I can’t help but worry a little bit.  I mean, it’s _Lacey_.”

“She’s not so bad.”

“No?”

Ruby shrugged.  “I know it’s supposed to feel like a betrayal or something, but it really doesn’t.  You remember how I was saying that Ruby was Red without the dead boyfriend and family, without all the baggage that made me feel like I didn’t really deserve anything good in my life, and how Mary Margaret was Snow without Regina?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been wondering if Lacey is Belle without being used and trapped and controlled by other people for her entire life.  She doesn’t have that need to see the best in others, if only to find hope that they’ll treat her like a human instead of like an object…”

“Without the Stockholm Syndrome, you mean?”

Ruby winced.  That wasn’t really what she’d call it, but it was _Gold_.  It kind of had to be that, didn’t it?  “Yeah.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

Ruby smiled softly, and then caught herself.  “What makes you think that?”

Emma scoffed.  “Oh, you know.  The bitemarks on your neck.”

Ruby met her eyes, smiling again, this time more openly.  “Yeah,” she said.  “I do like her.  She’s the fun kind of crazy.”

Emma forced a grin in response.  _Yeah_ , she thought _, that’s what I was afraid of._

*          *            *

“Dinner, tonight,” Lacey stated, coming into the diner during the break between the lunch and dinner rush.  “Gold’s off doing something nefarious, and I need a night out.  And you need to eat food somewhere they don’t deep fry _cheese_.”

Ruby looked over.  “Um, sure.  I get off at eight tonight, though.”

“Fine.  We’ll be European.  I’ll make reservations for nine.”  She swept out again.

Snow, in for her afternoon chocolate fix, looked doubtfully at Ruby.  “You’re _dating_ her now?”

“No.”

“Because that sounded like a date.  Well, it sounded like someone’s kept woman setting up a date, but still a date.”

“It’s just dinner.  We’ve eaten dinner together before.”

Snow frowned.  “At the diner, after hours, before you go and fuck in the back room?”

“No sex in the diner!” Granny announced, wandering past.

“We go to the library basement usually,” Ruby said, resigned to the whole world knowing her business.

“That’s where they keep the St. Andrews Cross,” Leroy added helpfully.

“We don’t have a St. Andrews Cross!” Ruby yelped.  She had just fixed two metal hooks to one of the support columns so they could get some suspension.  That, in no way, was a St. Andrews Cross.

“Just let me know if she bangs you during wolfstime, honey.  I’ve got some takers if I can get a videotape.”

Ruby groaned.

“Ruby!” Snow scolded.  “I don’t like this!  It’s getting too serious.  You know she’s Gold’s.”

Ruby stiffened.  “She’s not _anyone’s_.  She’s her _own_.  How would you like it if I said Emma belonged to Regina because she was the one who fucked up her life?”

“It’s not the same.  Lacey _chose_ Gold.”

“And she can give him up too.”

“Oh, Ruby,” Snow said softly.  “Baby, I’m sorry.”

And it was all too obvious what it meant.  Snow was sure she was fooling herself.  Perhaps she was.  Maybe Lacey wouldn’t ever give Gold up, especially not for her.  But maybe she was wrong.  Snow believed nothing ever turned out right for Red, and Ruby believed it too.  But it didn’t have to be true.  Sometime the miracle could turn in her favor, right?  Sometimes she could be the hero of the tale and not just the friend, the muscle, the eye-candy.  It could be her.  Couldn’t it?

*          *            *

Lacey showed up at eight forty, right in time for Ruby to have to get the door in her towel, still wet from the shower, and let her in.  Lacey was looking smoking, if a little less feminine than usual, in a collared shirt, open until you could just see the lace of her bra, with a motorcycle jacket over the top, and tight pants that tucked into the tops of her high-heeled thigh-length boots.

Ruby swallowed, and nearly dropped her towel.

“Dry your hair and curl it, I’m picking your clothes,” Lacey said, and sauntered over to her closet.

Ruby grinned and obeyed.  “You’d make a pretty douchey boyfriend,” she said.

“I would make an awesome boyfriend.”  She considered this further.  “Actually, I have no idea what makes an awesome boyfriend, so I really have no opinion on that.  Like, money, big cock, what?”

Ruby just laughed.  Lacey found her a dress in dark red silk, the main fabric shifting behind a net of diamond shaped openings cut into see-through black nylon.  It was actually bordering on classy, or would have been, if Ruby were about three inches shorter, and Ruby had forgotten she had it.

It was feeling uncomfortably like a date.  Dating someone who was already in a relationship was never a good idea, as Ruby knew well (and Red could guess).  But it also felt like friends, and that was fine, right?  They would be friends… who shagged on a regular basis.  But that sort of friendship was a great kind of friendship.  Past Ruby, at least, thought so.  (Past Red was a little upset that she had never managed it when she was sleeping in the same bed as Snow.)

The restaurant was new and classy, somewhere down by the docks.

“So this is what you like to eat?”

Lacey rolled her eyes.  “We live in _Maine_.  There is no good reason to prefer frozen fish fingers to actual seafood.”

Ruby grinned, nodding.  “I take your point.  This is super good.  Please never tell my grandmother I said that.”  But she considered it more as she ate.  “I think I could do something like this.  It’s like, garlic, butter…”

“There’s also a small farm nearby that’s starting CSAs.  I bet you could get a deal on bigger shipments.”

Ruby looked at her.  “Do you _want_ to eat at the diner?”

Lacey sat primly and refolded her napkin.  “Just because we’re an isolated province cut off from the actual world and filled with rejects from the middle ages doesn’t mean we have to be _provincial_.”

Ruby laughed.

“Also,” Lacey gave her a dirty smirk.  “The diner has the best _service_.”

*          *            *

It was getting so, _so_ hard not to kiss her.  It had been a _date_ , and the restaurant had thrown them out at closing, and Lacey had paid, and Ruby had left a massive tip, (because waitstaff supports each other, even if no one else does), and Lacey had hung onto her arm as they walked the whole way back to Granny’s.  Ruby didn’t want to go inside.  She wanted to perch on a park bench and pull Lacey into her lap, and kiss her until she was flushed, chest heaving, and ready to beg.

And really, Mr. Gold was out on business.  Was he really bothering to make sure his lady love’s lips stayed unsullied?  But on the doorstep, Ruby threaded her fingers through Lacey’s hair, and Lacey looked down, not meeting her eyes.  She didn’t want to be kissed.  Ruby nuzzled into her instead, leaning close to her ear and whispering, “You coming in?”

“I’m coming in ten minutes or less,” Lacey agreed, with a purr, and Ruby laughed and pulled her up to her bedroom.

Lacey stumbled back to sit on the bed and Ruby climbed into her lap, straddling her thighs, and leaning in to bite and suck at her pulse point.  Lacey gave an appreciative rumbling moan and let her hands slide right up Ruby’s thighs and under her skirt.

“What do you want?” Ruby murmured, so ready to please.

“You,” Lacey murmured.

Ruby bit down on her neck, that one bruise she never let fade, and let her hands palm Lacey’s breasts.  “Already here.”

“You know I love it when you spank me.”

Ruby let out a laugh that was almost a growl.  “I do.”

“And you know I love it when you grope my ass.”

Ruby grinned into her skin and did as requested.

“You want to fuck me there?  I want to see… see if I can take it.”

Heat coiled in Ruby’s gut.  _Fuck_ , yes, she wanted that.  “Oh, you’ll take it,” she breathed in Lacey’s ear.  You’ll take it so hard.”

Shirt off, pants down, the boots were fucking complicated and neither of them had the patience.  Ruby went for her box, which was starting to get too small for the growing collection, found lube and latex.  Lacey sprawled horizontally across the bed, in another vibrantly blue bra, her pants and underwear pushed down to her knees.  She propped herself up on one elbow and watched Ruby, who kicked off her shoes, and shed her underwear, which were so wet they were uncomfortable, but left the dress on.

Ruby climbed on the bed, letting herself take in the dishabille with pleasure.  “I have a rule too,” She said, her voice coming out in a half-growl.  She ran her ungloved hand over the smooth skin, and enjoyed seeing Lacey twitch.  “This is mine.  No one gets this but me.”

“Absolutely,” Lacey said, clenching and then releasing, and Ruby leaned down and bit, marking her territory.

“Now…”  Ruby teased her, working her open gently, drawing soft moans and slight shudders out of her.  The lube was self heating and soon Ruby was sliding the tip of her finger in and out.  Lacey had the blankets in a deathgrip, but was utterly relaxed and submissive below the waist.

“You liking this?” Ruby asked softly.

“How could I not?” Lacey murmured.  “ _You’re_ doing it.”

And that sent a thrill right up her spine.  Ruby grinned.  “You’re gorgeous.”  And then slid her finger all the way inside.  Lacey’s shoulders rose like a wave.

“ _Holy…”_

Her ass clenched tight on Ruby’s finger.  Her thighs went slick.

“That good?”

“ _Fuck_ me.”

So Ruby did.  One finger was good, but two made her cry, and Ruby shifted around, turning her over, two fingers buried deep in her ass, so she could see her face. She fucked her fingers in and out with short quick thrusts, hardly drawing out at all.  Lacey under her, eyes brimming, giving out machine-gun sobs, and clinging to her shoulders, not letting her go, was _beautiful_.  Her panting came harder, and she arched, eyes coming open, shockingly clear and blue, and her hands came up, catching Ruby behind the head, and pulled her down.

Mouths met in a deep, hot, open mouthed kiss, Ruby still fucking her hard, Lacey’s hips bucking, and then she came, clenching so tight Ruby was sure her fingers would break, her soaking center sliding against Ruby’s hip, and crying out into her mouth, into the kiss that felt like it belonged to another _world_.  And it didn’t end.  Lacey’s body stretched against hers, hands still clinging to her head, her kiss hungry and deep, tongues meeting and retreating, a filthy, sweet, _perfect_ kiss.

“God,” Ruby murmured.

Lacey was staring up at her, wide eyed and stunned, cracks in her blue eyes that Ruby hadn’t seen before.

“You okay down there?  That was good, right?”  And the kissing barrier had been broken, so Ruby leaned down to kiss her again.  Lacey parted her lips for her, the kiss soft and sweet, but no less wet for it, and Ruby slowly withdrew her fingers from her ass.  She broke the kiss to strip off the glove and chuck it in the wastebasket, then curled into Lacey’s soft body and tangled her fingers in her hair.  She pressed another kiss to her cheek, then her temple.  Lacey turned to look at her.  She wasn’t saying any of the things Ruby had expected, no dirty jokes, no need to do it again, no getting her hands up her dress and getting her off.  “Did I just… like, blow your mind, or something?”

Lacey gave her a look that seemed more desperate than sarcastic.  “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah.  You really did.”

“I can make it up to you.”  Ruby’s hand rubbed over Lacey’s soft belly and down to her cunt.  “You up for it?”

Lacey’s hips bucked into her hand, and a suddenly appalled look crossed her face.  “I, no.  You know.  I really think I’m not.”  Lacey squirmed out of her embrace and climbed off the bed, then nearly took a header to the floor before she got her pants untwisted from around her knees.  She pulled them up, wincing as she buttoned them, and grabbed her shirt from the floor.  “I need to go.”

Ruby sat up, staring at her.  “What?”

Lacey gave her a pathetic, desperate look.  “I’m really sorry.  But I _really_ need to go.”

Her shirt unbuttoned, hair a mess, makeup smeared thoroughly, Lacey ran out the door, leaving Ruby sitting in the bed, completely confused and desperately horny.

“Well, _fuck_.”


	3. Chapter 3

When the last thing you remember is the sound of a gunshot ringing out, you kind of expect to wake up in the hospital, or maybe somewhere with the guy you were with hanging around, or in the afterlife, or something like _that_.  You don’t expect to come to with your best friend’s fingers buried to the knuckle up your ass, and her kissing you, deep and wet and dirty, like there’s no tomorrow, and you really don’t expect to top that off with your body suddenly deciding that it’s ready for the best orgasm of your _life_.

To be completely honest, that was not a situation Belle had _ever_ expected to be in, even if it hadn’t been abutted right to the memory of the dark woods and Rumpel and a _pirate_.  Kissing Ruby was almost enough to make her forget that this was insane, except for the whole, fingers up her butt thing, and was that a bitemark on Ruby’s neck?  And just holy shit, everything was upside down and backwards, and none of it made any sense, and then Ruby was just fondling her pussy like she had a right to be there, and Belle _wanted_ her there, and she just needed to go, because she couldn’t think, she couldn’t sort out what on earth was going on, not with Ruby right there, with those impossibly long fingers taking her apart, and she was done.  She was out.

Ruby’s distressed astonishment almost pulled her back, but what on earth could she _say_?

Belle’s legs felt like jelly, her trousers gripping too tightly in very sensitive areas, and what the hell was wrong with these boots she was wearing?  Who in their right mind wore heels like this?

As she stumbled her way down the street, other memories started to open up in her head.  Ruby’s hands on her breasts, her back hitting the cold shower wall, fingers sliding inside of her.  She reached the library, her safe place.  She could go in there, hide.  But she looked at it and blanched, the memory of Ruby, cuffed and naked, tied to one of the columns in the basement rising up in her mind.  They had defiled the _library._  

Rumpel, she thought.  He would know what was going on, wouldn’t he?  But she looked down the street toward his shop and remembered, far too vividly, her lips wrapping around the head of his cock.  She thought she might be sick.

The clock struck two am.  What could she do?  Where could she go?

There was one door.  She banged on it, and banged again.

“What?” The door finally opened, revealing a sleepy-eyed, pillow-haired Snow, who blinked at her in astonishment.  “Lacey, what are you doing here?”

“Lacey?” Belle gasped, utterly confused.  “I’m not _Lacey_.  I’m _Belle_.”

*          *            *

Snow leaned against the counter as Lacey – no, _Belle_ , hunched over her cup of tea, looking utterly miserable.  It was pretty miserable to get all of your memories back, in general.  But from the way Belle looked stunned and mussed, and sat awkwardly, shifting every few moments, Snow could guess that this sort of rude awakening was, well, rather more rude than otherwise.

“How long?” Belle asked.  “How long have I been… Lacey?”

“A few months,’ Snow said, doing the calculations in her head.  “Nearly five months, actually.”

Belle made a weak, distressed sound.  “And the whole pirate, Cora…”

“Taken care of.”  Snow didn’t want to explain the part she had had in it, so she kept it neutral.  “Things are… reasonably peaceful right now,” as long as she didn’t include her and Regina’s bitter sniping during council sessions when they tried to figure out how to run the town.

“That’s good.  And Rumpel?”

“He’s been… busy.”  Snow actually had no idea what he was doing.  At first he had been pretty busy just trying to handle Lacey, and then, when Ruby had gotten involved, he had been trying to kill her, but after that he seemed to take himself out of the equation, which only meant he had to be planning something nefarious.

“And… how long has Ruby…”

“How long has Ruby been banging Lacey?”  Belle looked sick.  “A while.”

“How long… after?”

Snow blinked.  Was Belle wondering how long it took Ruby to get over her and move on?  Then Belle waved her hand.

“No, don’t tell me.  I remember.”

“You do?”

Belle nodded weakly.  “I can remember everything Lacey did, if something reminds me of it.  And I just, it’s just…”

“Horrible?”  Snow sighed.  “I understand.  I have so many memories of Regina treating me like trash, laughing at me as I cowered and gave her everything she wanted.”

“But she didn’t _fuck_ you,” Belle hissed, and Snow sat up straight, shocked out of her bitterness.

“No,” she said.  “No she didn’t.”  And that thought made her wonder if she really had got off lightly.  Coming back to herself with _those_ memories?  Taking it and liking it?  She felt rather ill.

“And it’s not like you… _you_ at least had _done_ something.”

Snow’s eyes went wide.  “ _Oh_ ,” she said.  “Really?”

Belle’s eyes went teary, and she rubbed them, leaving herself looking even more like a raccoon than before.  “I went from having kissed one man ever, to _this_.  And I didn’t make any of the decisions.  I just _remember_.  And feel it.  And _Ruby._ ”  Her voice cracked.

“Did you… tell her, when you got your memories back?  You were with her, weren’t you?”

Belle nodded weakly.  “No,” she said.  “I didn’t tell her.  I just… I had to leave.  I mean, we had just…” She flinched.

Snow frowned.  “So you just left her there?  Without an explanation?”

“An _explanation_?  I wasn’t the one who put my fingers in her—”  Belle choked, cutting herself off.

Snow felt her eyes go huge.  There was only so much she really needed to know about the details.  “Um, was it the first time that she, um, did that?”

Belle grimaced and nodded slowly. 

“Do you think that could have triggered it?  That there’s a reason why you got your memories back then?”

Belle recoiled.  “I _hope_ not.” 

Yes, Snow thought, one did not want to be the expert witness on the magical properties of ass sex.  “Was there anything else that it could have been?  Anything that might have felt out of the ordinary…”  She wished she hadn’t said those words.  Clearly there was plenty going on that had felt quite out of the ordinary.

Belle’s eyes dropped to the carpet.  “I was kissing her,” she said.

“Well, surely that wasn’t _new_ , was it?”

Belle’s shoulders hunched even further.  “It was.”

“You hadn’t kissed her?  Lacey was sleeping with her for three months and never kissed her?”

“Rumpel didn’t want me to.  He said I could sleep around, but I couldn’t kiss anyone else.”

Snow went still and quiet.  This didn’t make sense.  True love was true love, wasn’t it?  It overcame all obstacles.  But what if the obstacle was more true love?  “Do you think he knew that a kiss would bring back your memories?”

Belle nodded.  “I’m sure he knew.  And I’m sure he hated the fact that his kiss hadn’t worked.  He would have rathered I stayed Lacey forever than be cured by someone who wasn’t him.”

“And it was Ruby.”

“Yes,” Belle said, her voice coming out in a growl.  “ _Ruby_ , who was carefully, methodically, removing all my virginities.  Who didn’t even _think_ about what it might be like if I remembered.  Who was the only one who should have _known_ what it would have been like, because she… she had to deal with the same thing.”

“We thought you were gone for good.”

Belle jumped to her feet.  “Maybe I _should_ have been!” 

Snow sat back quickly.

“I know what you’re thinking – that Ruby’s my _true love_ now, or some _bullshit_ like that.  But Rumpel was my true love.  Rumpel was the one I was supposed to be with, no matter how hard it was.  And Ruby wasn’t falling for _me_ all this time.”  Belle rubbed her hand across her face.  “She was falling for Lacey.”

“What?”

“I _remember_.  I saw how she looked at me – _her._   _Lacey_ , with her stupid heels and her slutty clothes and her bondage kink, is Ruby’s true love.  It _isn’t_ me.  Their kiss may have fixed what was wrong with my head, but that’s all.”  Belle laughed, but it was utterly bitter.  “Regina’s curse really worked this time, didn’t it?  None of us will get a happy ending.”

*          *            *

“Rumpel?”

The little man fixed her with a harsh, dangerous look.

“I can’t see you anymore,” Belle said.  “I don’t want to have anything to do with you, or even to see you, if I don’t have to.”

“This is because of _Ruby,_ isn’t it?” his voice went deadly.

“I…”  She met his eyes, keeping her voice steady.  “I can’t see her anymore either.  I’m ending all of this.”

“ _Lacey_.”

Belle laughed in disbelief.  “I thought _you_ at least wouldn’t need to be told.  I’m _not_ Lacey.  I’m Belle.  And you _and_ Ruby, you took advantage of me for _months_ , when I was in no shape to consent to anything.  I didn’t know who I _was_ and you still thought it was _fine_ to put your… your sex parts all over me.”

Rumpel gaped.  “ _Belle_?  But…”

“You’re my true love, Rumpel, but loving someone you can’t trust is worse than never loving anyone at all.”

“But my kiss, it didn’t work.”

“You weren’t kissing me.  You were kissing Lacey. And that’s the worst of it, really.  Because when you thought you were kissing me, you were kissing Lacey.  And when you thought you were fucking Lacey, you were fucking me.  And I didn’t want to.  And I still don’t.”

*          *            *

Ruby figured it out pretty quickly.  It took one look at the girl walking down the street in a sedate summer dress with a high collar, watching her as she went up the library steps and unlocked the doors, to put together the truth.  Belle was back.  Belle had come back sometime in the middle of dirty, dirty sex, and Belle was never, ever going to speak to her again.

She had to sit down.  Ruby sank into one of the booths and pressed her face into her hands.  “Oh, God,” she whimpered.

Emma stared at her and then sat down across from her.  “What is it?” she asked.

“Lacey,” was the broken word that came out of her mouth.

“Huh?”

Ruby’s stomach twisted into knives.  She felt her wolf howl in mourning.  “Lacey’s _gone_.”

*          *            *

Emma watched in horror as the whole thing started to make sense.  Belle was back, but not the old Belle, innocent and open minded.  This one was as sharp and brittle as a twig.  She held herself stiffly, proudly, never looking to the diner or to Gold’s shop.  She had the library running like a well oiled machine in a week.  She shopped and cooked for herself, and never went out to eat.  She spoke to Snow and a few other people, but in clipped, hard tones, and Emma never saw her relaxing with a book anymore.  It was horrible to behold.

Ruby was a mess.  She had gotten over – or perhaps not really gotten over – her desperate futile crush on Belle, only to fall hard for Lacey, and then get completely burned in the bargain.  It was really kind of sad.

Emma tried to get Snow to spill the beans on what exactly had happened, but Snow just went Mary-Margaret prim and said, “you just don’t understand what it’s like to have two sets of memories.  One set that just isn’t yours, and yet belongs to your body and mind, so you know it happened to you.”

No, Emma did not know what this was like.  But Ruby did.  And Ruby had come to terms with it.  She had sorted out the Red parts of her and the Ruby parts of her and seemed to be heading toward an integrated whole of the two.  Snow hadn’t done that.  And if Belle was taking her cues from Snow, Emma didn’t like the looks of the outcomes.

It was time for an intervention.

*          *            *

“Ahem.”

Belle jerked out of the reverie she had been in, staring at that column in the basement that still had the two iron hooks hammered into it at just the right height.  She had been there, naked breasts pressed up against the cold metal, wrists bound and suspended, Ruby hot against her back, mouthing her neck, rutting against her ass, and she hadn’t been scared.  That was the strangest part.  She had been _delighted_.  And Belle _hated_ Lacey, for being able to be delighted, for being able to let go and not care that she was trapped and bound with a werewolf rutting against her.

She could admit that some of it was jealousy.  It didn’t make a difference.  Belle turned.

Emma was standing there, grinning awkwardly in that idiotic way she had, that always made her discomfort with the situation blatantly obvious.  She was Ruby’s friend.  Not Belle’s.  That was important.

“Are you looking for a book?”

“Um, actually I was looking for you.”

Belle raised an eyebrow.  She wasn’t interested in talking about this.  She was working through it her own way.

“You know, friendly neighborhood sheriff, wants to make sure everything’s… okay?”

“You know as well as I do that everything is not okay,” Belle said flatly.  “But I really have no idea what you think you can do about any of it.”

“Well, I’m the savior?”

It was too stupid, and Belle had to laugh.  Emma grinned back at her, and for a moment she thought maybe they could be friends too.  “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“That’s fine,” Emma said, glancing around, but not making any move to leave.  “You’ve been hanging out with my mom a lot lately.”

“Snow has been… sympathetic.”

“Yeah, well, she knows what it’s like to have the rug ripped out from under you right when you think it’s all hunky dory.”

Belle frowned slightly.  What was she talking about?  It wasn’t as if things had been easy _before_ Lacey.  Now it was just all worse.  “That parallel doesn’t make sense.”

Emma blinked.  “Oh, yeah.  I suppose you were always in a bit of a mess.”  Her expression darkened and she looked at Belle, really looked, eyes sharp and accusing.  “The one who was finally getting her shit together, and who was starting to be at peace with herself, and think maybe she deserved something good in her life, like a girlfriend, even if it was just a timeshare with Mr. Gold, that was _Ruby_.”

Belle went still.  It still hurt, the memory of Red’s face as she left the library that night, ready to die to expiate her sins.  It had made Belle sick to see such a truly good person unable to forgive herself when the man she loved couldn’t see the evil in his cruelest acts. 

“That’s not my fault.  I’m not Lacey.  Lacey wasn’t _real_.  It’s not my fault if Ruby lied to herself enough to—”

“Lacey?”  Emma snorted.  “I’m not talking about Lacey.  I’m talking about _you_.  Before Lacey.  Before you ran off after Mr. Gold and got your head messed with.  Back when Red was crushing hard on you, and you were leading her on like– like a _judas goat_.”

Belle’s lips parted, eyebrows shooting up.  “What?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the hot waitress leaning on the counter and flirting with you.”

“I—”  Belle felt herself start to turn red.  Those memories were all mixed in with Ruby’s eyes watching Lacey, her warm easy smiles alongside her wolf grins.  And it wasn’t fair that she couldn’t sort her memories properly, that it was all starting to feel like it had all been her, and that it _hurt_ that Ruby wasn’t trying harder to fix things.  But she wasn’t the one Ruby wanted.  “I–, yes, but I was _taken_ , sort of, and everything was crazy, and she was _safe_ , even when she thought she wasn’t and chained me to a post.”  And it wasn’t fair.  It could have been _different._   “That crush didn’t stop her, did it?  From going out and fucking Lacey until I couldn’t _walk_.”

Emma grimaced.  “That, I think, is kind of my fault.”

“ _Your_ fault?”

“Yeah.  Red was being a mopey fuck who hadn’t got laid since she thought she was just Ruby and I thought going out would be good for her.  I didn’t expect her to bring home her dead crush’s alter, but people grieve in different ways.”

Belle swallowed.  _Dead crush?_  “Grieving?”

“That’s what freaked me out when she started talking about how Lacey was like you.  I figured she’d just thoroughly failed to move on.”

“Lacey isn’t like me,” Belle said softly.

Emma shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Ruby’s got this theory though, about Regina’s magic.  It doesn’t seem plausible that the magic could really just rewrite all our personalities.  It would have to be crazy strong, or we’d all just be cardboard people, or something.  So Ruby thinks that all it really does is wipe away the things that changed us.  Ruby isn’t the girl who ate her first boyfriend and lost her family.  Mary-Margaret never had to flee into the forest and fight Regina.  Lacey…”

“Lacey never had to sacrifice herself.”

“You think she’s right?”

Belle shrugged.  “Maybe.  Lacey’s someone I could have been.  But I’m _not_ her.  I went with Rumpel.  I spent the last twenty-eight years in a psychward.  It doesn’t really change anything.”

“But you _were_ her, for a bit.  It’s part of you.  You’ve got to be able to deal with that.”

“I _am_ dealing with that.  Day by day.”

*          *            *

The walls weren’t working anymore.  She had tried so hard to figure out which parts of her memories were Lacey and which were Belle, and keep them separate, but the knowledge just kept seeping through.  She found herself answering detailed questions about motorcycles with an easy confidence.  The young library patron had looked at her in shock.  “Jeez, Ms. Belle.  How do you know all this stuff?”

“I read a book,” she had replied.  _Lacey_ had read a book.  Belle found it tossed carelessly in a pile in the library basement and remembered a bored afternoon spent with a vodka spritzer on the sofa, reading intently.  She had fantasized about running away, leaving this bullshit small town behind, taking Ruby and Mr. Gold’s cash and finding out what sort of trouble two hot girls could get into.

The memories were part of her now.  She still turned around when someone called that name.  She ran into Jake from the Rabbit Hole who hadn’t heard the news.  He challenged her to a rematch at pool.  She remembered beating him handily, and thought she probably still could.  She kind of wanted to try.

She wasn’t Belle anymore, she realized.  She couldn’t be, not after being Lacey.  She was always going to be Belle + Lacey’s memories, and that sum was more than Belle alone.  But what was that sum?  Who was she supposed to be now?

Rumpel made part of it very clear.  He stopped by the library with a rose and offered it to her.

“Belle, darling.  You know I love you.  Lacey was delicious fun, but _you_ are my true love.”

Belle stared at him and felt insulted, and not a little disgusted with herself.  Lacey hadn’t thought she was a virgin, but her body had been, and she had given him so much.  Was this what he thought of Lacey?  Someone he could use but didn’t actually want?  And why did he want _Belle_ more?“What does true love even mean?” she asked.

“It means we are destined to be together!”

“No it doesn’t,” Belle replied.  “If that’s what it meant, then Regina would have her true love, and none of us would be in this mess.”  Though she wondered if she wasn’t grateful for it, a little bit.  Twenty-eight years in a psych ward wasn’t something to be happy about, but it hadn’t felt that long.  And now she was out, and she wasn’t trapped and isolated in a castle in the middle of nowhere.  She was somewhere interesting and new.  But Rumpel kept trying to drag her back.

“It means we can overcome any obstacle!  _Except_ death.”

“But who are _we_ , Rumpel?  I tried to find you underneath your Dark One clothes, and I thought I had, but I don’t see that person anymore.  And you are looking for Belle, right?  The one who stayed, who came back, who gave in.  But I’m not her anymore.  I’m not Lacey anymore either.  I’m someone new.  Every day I am someone new.  I _like_ that.”

“But it’s true love.”  He looked hollowed out.  “You’ll come back to me eventually.”

“You don’t even believe that yourself, do you?”

Rumpel straightened, proudly.  “I still love you, even if you have stopped.”  He offered her the rose.  Belle shook her head.  He offered it again.  Belle shook her head more vehemently.  “Take it!”

“No!”

“ _No?_ ”  And he burst into smoke and disappeared.  The rose turned to black fluid that ate a bald patch into the carpet.

“Great,” muttered Belle, and found a pot to put over it so no one would step in it by accident.

*          *            *

At least when she was a wolf, Ruby didn’t have to think about her miserable existence.  Unfortunately, she only got to be a wolf three nights a month.  The rest of the time, she was depressed.

Granny had decided that the best remedy for depression was more shifts at the diner and also lots of early morning yelling and cold showers.  She turned off the water heater in Ruby’s bathroom.  Ruby considered killing her.

Then they had a screaming fight only on the surface about the water heater.

“I’m not miserable because I’m missing _sex_ , Granny!”

“You’re miserable because you’re too much of a wimp to go talk to the girl!”

“The girl is _gone_!  I can’t ‘go talk to the girl’ because she’s _gone_!”

“Don’t give me that bull, missy!  You know there were two girls you were hung up on and now there’s one girl who’s both of them.  That doesn’t sound like _gone_ to me!”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me!”

“And maybe if you had kept your dirty paws to yourself you might have not humiliated the girl!”

“Leave my dirty paws out of it!  I don’t—  I don’t regret _any_ of that.”

And Ruby really, really didn’t.  Because it had been amazing, and Lacey had been amazing, and she still kept that list tacked up on her wall.  And if Belle was suddenly saddled with a bunch of memories she didn’t want, well, then she didn’t understand them.

“Yeah,” said Granny.  “Don’t lead with that.”

Ruby stiffened.  “I should, you know.  I should tell her that she has all of this _Lacey_ pent up inside of her, and that she’s amazing when she lets go, and that I’m sorry it didn’t happen like she would have wanted, but underneath, she totally wanted it.”

Granny sighed.  “Try not to sound like a date rapist.”

“Oh, God,” Ruby pressed her hands to her face.  “That was bad, wasn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“But I really… I know everything is messed up now, but I asked, _every time_ , I asked what she wanted.  Even the first time, when it was supposed to be hate sex, and I hurt her more than I should have, she said it was fine.  I have the _list_.  There was explicit consent _every time_.”

“Please don’t say that either.”

“Should I show her the list?”

“No.  The girl wrote the list.  You don’t need to act like a stalker.”

“Then… what should I say?”

“Say _hello_ ,” Granny replied, raising an eyebrow.  “Then say you’re sorry.  And exude non-threateningness.”

Ruby dressed like Red, lumberjack-style and all, and went and sat on the stairs outside the library.  She desperately wanted to stick her head through the boundary and not have to remember any of this. 

“What are you doing here?” Snow asked sharply as she walked up to the doors.

Ruby looked at her and sighed.  “I’m trying to apologize.  Don’t look at me like that.  You were _my_ friend once.”

Snow sighed.  “I still am.  But I was Red’s friend, and Ruby still…”

“Rubs you the wrong way?”  Ruby shook her head.  “Maybe you’re more like Mary-Margaret on the inside than you think you are.”

Snow stiffened.  “I take offense at that!”

“What?” Ruby asked.  “You’re saying back in the enchanted forest that you wouldn’t have been upset if I said I hooked up with Bob the farmer, or someone?”

Snow wrinkled her nose.  “I don’t _know_.  Probably I would have.  I had no sense of ‘casual relationships’ back then, it was either true love or it wasn’t.  But if you were fine with it I would be fine with it, eventually.  But you’re _not_ fine.” 

“It wasn’t _casual_ either.  I was really—”

“I know that.”  Snow looked at her, eyes dark and sympathetic.  “How else would she have gotten her memories back?”

Ruby sank slightly.  She hated having external evidence of her feelings.

“Unless,” Snow said, smirking slightly, “It really was boning her ass that shook the memories free.”

Ruby went white.  “She _told_ you?”

Snow laughed.  “Not in so many words.  She was really freaking out.  I mean, of all the times to suddenly get your memories back.”

“I _know_ , oh _god_.”  Ruby banged her forehead on her knee.  “Like, I wouldn’t have surprised if _Lacey_ had freaked the fuck out after that.  And Lacey was _game_.”

“You know,” Snow said softly, “I’ve been trying to let her take the lead on this, and figure herself out, but she’s not recovering, really.  She’s just building up these walls and keeping everyone out.  And that’s not like Belle _or_ Lacey, and I don’t think it’s healthy.  And I know she doesn’t want to talk about it, but I think she really should.  And since you were… there, for most of it, maybe she’ll talk to you.”

“Or maybe she’ll hit me with a book.”

“This is always a possibility.  But Gold tried to hit you with a falling statue.  Anyways, maybe you can try going inside, and not just lingering on the doorstep.”

Ruby nodded.  “Thanks Snow,” she said and stepped into the offered embrace.

“Just because I don’t want to _know_ about your sex life doesn’t mean I don’t think you should have one.”

*          *            *

The library was bright and well lit, and Ruby nearly tripped over a pot sitting in the middle of the floor.  There was a new section going up for DVDs and music.  Belle had set up a series of computers with Internet access and had a wireless hotspot sign hanging behind the desk.  Shiny new releases sat with their covers facing the entering patrons.

It looked… honestly, nothing like she had pictured.  It was modern and upbeat and there was a sign for salsa classes being offered in the big back room, and tai-chi.  There were definitely comfy looking chairs tucked into nooks away for reading, but there were also tables, and a sign to a teen room that read ‘talking encouraged: especially about books!’  Ruby pressed her nose against the plexiglass and examined the shiny book covers.  Teen books looked like fun.

“Looking for werewolf books?” came a voice from being her, and Ruby jumped, horrified that her wolf senses had let her down.  Belle stood behind her, arms crossed.  Her hair was up and she wore a crisp white collared shirt and a black pencil skirt, and looked like the perfect strict and sexy librarian.

Ruby smiled a wolf smile without intending to.  “You just need glasses and a ruler to make that perfect.”

Belle raised her eyebrows in confused astonishment.

“Um, sorry,” Ruby said, cringing slightly.  Sexual overtures did not equal apologies.  “Hello,” she tried again.

“Hello…” Belle said slowly, her nose wrinkled in suspicion.

“I just stopped by to say, um, to say sorry.”

Belle took a step away from her and her face turned impassive.  “Really?”

“Um, yes.” Ruby said.  “I know everything got pretty fucked up while you were… gone.  And I just wanted to know that I never meant to… to hurt you.”

Belle’s eyes slid away.  “Didn’t stop you from falling for her,” she muttered.

Ruby blinked.  “Are you… _jealous_?”

“What?  Of course not!”

“Are you sure?  Because it sounded a lot like you were pissed that I went for Lacey.  And that’s not… that’s not the using your body without your permission problem that you were having before.”

“I am _still_ upset about that!”

“And you’re also upset that I didn’t stay chaste until you got back?  God, I’m _glad_ I was the one fucking you.  Gold was bad enough, but you didn’t have the slightest idea of how to stay safe, and at least you weren’t banging randos from the Rabbit Hole!”

“So you’re _glad_ you violated me?  You and your campaign to make me try every kink under the _sun_.”

“That was _your_ idea.  You gave me a _list_.  I was _helping_.”

“I gave you a…” And then Belle went a little green.  “Oh.  Yeah.  I gave you a list.  I hadn’t remembered that yet.”

“You and Lacey,” Ruby smiled fondly. “That’s one thing you had in common, insatiable curiosity.  Lacey just took ‘insatiable’ more literally.”

“The literal meaning of ‘insatiable’ has nothing to do with sex.”

Ruby grinned at her.  “I know.  But it _sounds_ sexy.”

“God, _you_.” Belle shoved her lightly.  Ruby caught her wrists and stepped into her.  Belle hissed in a breath and went still. 

Ruby wanted to lean down and kiss her, but her eyes were so wide and she looked so panicked.  Ruby let her wrists go.  She moved back.  “Sorry.”

Belle dropped her gaze.  “I’m not Lacey.”

“I know that.”

“I can’t do what she did.  I’m not comfortable with all of that… sex.”

“There was a lot of sex,” Ruby said wryly.  “But that wasn’t… it wasn’t everything that I wanted.”

Belle swallowed.  “I don’t…”

“I’m not pushing you.  I’m _not_ asking for anything.  I just wanted to say I’m sorry, and I wanted to be friends again.  I want you to be able to come to the diner.  I want to just let it go.”

Belle ducked her head.  “Yeah,” she said.  “I can do that, I think.”

“ _Thank you_ ,” Ruby said, and flushed at the intensity of her words.

Belle smiled, and Ruby only reddened more.

*          *            *

“You’re looking more upbeat,” said Emma as she wandered into the diner.

Ruby grinned at her and gestured with her head at a table.  Belle and Snow were there, having lunch, and discussing rather intently the inclusion of fresh seafood and green items on the menu. 

“Honestly?” Belle was saying.  “I don’t think tradition is all that important.  If you never try new things you never find anything better.  And this is _better_.”

“You don’t go to a diner for new things.  You go for _comfort_ ,” Snow protested.

“Go _home_ for comfort.  Go out for excitement!”

Emma’s eyebrows shot up.  “Really?  Things are going good?”

“Things are _fine_ ,” Ruby said.  “We have reached détente.”

“Awesome!”  Emma grinned.  “This calls for a girls’ night!”

“No,” Ruby said, “No it does not.  It does not call for a girls’ night.”

“Yes it does!  And you will put up with it and I will have girls’ night with my _mom_.  And who else?  Ashley?  Regina?”

“What?  Your mom and _Regina_?  You’re crazy.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that.”

*          *            *

Ruby had the closing shift at the diner, so she was meeting them a little later, and she was not enthused about walking into the Rabbit Hole again.  The thought made her a little ill.  She wasn’t looking to pull, it was girl’s night, so she let Red pick her clothes, but then she unbuttoned her shirt a little and changed into a red bra.  Just for… contrast.

She found the table quickly.  She spotted Belle first, stirring her drink, dressed casually in black pants and a blue lace tank top that left her arms bare.  She was looking at Ashley with a very peculiar expression on her face and Ruby suddenly and awfully remembered the first conversation she had had with Lacey, and was pretty sure that Belle was remembering it too.

“Um, hi.”

Belle was the first to look over, and then she bit the side of her lip and let her eyes flick to Ashley and back, making it incredibly obvious what she was thinking.  Ruby gave her the face of ‘don’t you dare say a word.’

“Ruby!” said Emma, happily.  “Pick your poison?”

Too many ex-fuck buddies?  That sounded like it would kill her.  “Um, what are you guys having?”

“Dwarf brew!” announced Emma, slamming her nearly-empty pint glass onto the table.  And… that was why she was already hammered.  Someone needed to tell them to stop brewing 120 proof beer.

Ruby made eye contact with Snow.  “You walking her home?”

“I’m on it.”

“They have rhubarb martinis,” commented Belle.

Ruby’s eyes fell to her glass.  “Any good?”

“Mm,” she nodded. “Different.  I like trying new things.”

“Hmm, _yeah_ ,” snorted Emma.  Ruby gave her a hard elbow to the side.

“All right.  I’m going to the bar, anyone need a refill?”

“Yeah!” said Emma.

“Water for you.”

She returned from the bar just in time to overhear the beginning of an awkward conversation.

“It’s good to see that you and Ruby are friends again,” Ashley started tentatively.  “I mean, regular friends, after… um, not, or—”

Belle cut off this dancing around the subject of Lacey with a smile that did not look quite Belle-like.  “It _is_ possible to be friends with people who fucked your alter,” she said.  “I mean, really, you should know.”

Ashley turned a funny color and _glared_ at Ruby.  “You _told_ her?”

Snow was wide-eyed.  Emma was grinning happily and clearly had no idea of what was going on.  Ruby very carefully set the drinks down and slid into the seat next to Belle.  She grinned awkwardly.  “Well, I told Lacey, but news gets around.”

“Why would you tell _Lacey_?”

“She asked.”

“But she was _awful_.”

“Kind of still right here, guys,” Belle said. 

Ashley looked at her.  “But you’re not…”

Belle leaned forward over the table.  “Here’s the thing, if I say _Ashley_ was awful, you’d get offended.  You still have all her memories.  In fact, you still go by Ashley.  She’s more immediate to you than your alter.”

“I… she’s more _useful_.  I mean, being a princess isn’t really going to help me here.”

Belle nodded.  “So, I don’t have twenty-eight years of being Lacey.  But we are in a bar.  Who is more useful in a bar, Belle, or Lacey?”

“I’m sorry,” said Ashley, looking awkward.  “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“It’s okay.  Lacey was pretty awful sometimes.”  Belle grinned.  “But you shouldn’t be ashamed of having banged Ruby.  I mean, really?  Why wouldn’t you want a piece of that?”

Ruby felt her cheeks flush with pleasure and it wasn’t the drink.  She scooted her chair slightly closer, and Belle leaned against her arm.

“I’d totally take some!” Emma announced.

Snow looked appalled.

Ashley’s eyes flicked over them, considering, and then she smiled.  “Yeah, I know.  It was totally hot.”

“But then,” Emma continued, “There are a lot of super hot girls around here.  I mean, you both too,” she gave Ashley and Belle an expansive gesture.  “And Regina, oh my god, and the blue fairy, _yum_.”  She grinned at Snow.  “And I was totally trying to figure out a way to get into Mary-Margaret’s pants before you turned out to be my mom.  _Buzz kill!”_

Snow now looked like she was trying really, really hard to learn to apparate.  Ruby just laughed, and Belle leaned into her shoulder, laughing as well.

*          *            *

Ruby lingered outside the library door as Belle fumbled uselessly with the lock.  Her fingers, they were not holding onto the goddamn key.  “Thank you,” Ruby said.  “For playing at being my girlfriend all night.  You didn’t have to.”

Belle glanced back at her.  “I wasn’t.”

Ruby flinched.

Oh god, that wasn’t what she had meant.  She was too drunk for human conversation.  She lurched and caught Ruby’s hand, tugging it firmly toward her. “Hey, I meant I wasn’t doing it on purpose.  I was just having a good time with you.  The last time we actually hung out together was… the date.”

Ruby was staring at their clasped hands.  “The date.”

“You know, the ill-starred night of fish and… poorly timed memory retrieval.”

Ruby flushed.  “It was a date?”

Belle huffed a soft laugh and leaned into Ruby’s chest.  “Of course it was a date.  I– she– _we_ were way into you.  So there was a date.  And then she took the risk, and kissed you, and we all know how well that turned out.”

“Oh yes.  I think I recall.”

“But it was a good kiss.  And the second one… that was really nice too.”

“It sounds like you’re angling for a repeat performance.”

“Not of the _whole_ night.”

“How drunk are you?”

“Moderate level drunk.”  Belle grinned up at her.  “Not Emma level drunk.”

“That’s still pretty drunk.”

“It’s nice, though.  It’s like, everything’s fun, and easy, and you’re gorgeous.”  Belle looped her arms around her neck and pressed up against her.  “I have all these awesome memories about naked sexy time with Lacey, and it’s like, all stuff I’d only read about in books, only thought I’d _ever_ read about in books, but _she_ did it, and I _know_ I’d still like it.”

“Belle…”  Fingers slipped into her hair.

Belle lifted up on her toes and pressed her lips against Ruby’s.  It was soft, and sweet, and easy.  Belle grinned against her mouth.

“You want to come up?” she murmured.  “For sex?”

“No,” Ruby said softly.

“ _No?_ ”  Belle pushed off of her and stared at her.  “You’re _serious_?”

“You’re hammered.  I don’t want you to do anything you’d regret when you’re sober.”

“No it’s not,” Belle spat at her, shoving her away.  “I know you.  You’d fuck Lacey passed out on a bathroom floor.  It’s just _me_.  You don’t want me.”

“Belle!” 

Belle’s back hit the doors, Ruby’s hands pinning her wrists above her head.

“That’s not _true_.”

And they were kissing again, but this time deep and wet and open, and Belle gasped into it.  Then Ruby pulled away.

“I want you,” she said, to the accompaniment of Belle’s rough breathing.  “I want the girl you were tonight.  Because you were all of them, you were the Belle I had a crush on because she liked new things and was charmingly embarrassed when I said something suggestive about pancakes, and you were the Lacey I was falling hard for, a little bit bitchy and amazingly sexy, and you were just you tonight, sweet and protective of me, and I don’t just _want_ you.  So, I won’t sleep with you tonight, because I don’t want to fuck it up again.”

Belle stared at her, at her hurting, noble countenance, and felt all the wind go out of her.  “I’ll still want you tomorrow,” she said.  She knew it was true.  Whether she’d be able to admit it to herself was another thing.

“Ask me tomorrow.  Ask me when you’re sober, okay?  I promise I’ll say yes.”

*          *            *

Belle woke up early and hungover.  She rolled into a ball and groaned.  She remembered throwing herself at Ruby the night before, and being rejected. 

“It was so much easier being Lacey,” she mumbled to herself.  Only that wasn’t really true.  It had been hard to be Lacey, to play all the games just right, keep Gold satisfied, and keep crawling into bed with Ruby and not kiss her.  Belle fingered the place on her neck where she had worn the imprint of Ruby’s teeth for three months straight.  She missed it.

Her hand slid down the front of her pajama pants and her fingers burrowed between her legs.  The memory of Ruby’s mouth moving against hers was enough to turn her on, and she had so many memories to play with, spread and begging, being fucked hard, the heat of Ruby’s mouth a slippery scanty film away from her cunt.  She wanted it.  And she didn’t just want to imagine it.  She wanted it to be _real._

She had always loved books, but as a child she had loved them because she had wanted those adventures for herself.  But she had never gotten the chance.  She had been a prisoner – of her father, of Rumpel, of Regina, and books had become her escape.  Books had been all she had, because she had given up all hope of being free.

Ruby wasn’t a cage.  Ruby had bound Lacey’s wrists and given her something real, heat and love and risk and daring.  And Belle wanted that.  She wanted to step out of the safety of pretend and let herself feel.

She had to try.  At _least_ she had to try.

*          *            *

Emma was lying with her head on the counter and groaning softly.  Ruby rolled her eyes, moving quickly and easily through the breakfast rush.

“I hate you,” Emma moaned.  “Damn werewolves and their hangover immunity.”

“Even I would have a hangover if I had two pints of dwarf brew, Emma.  You want something greasy?”

Emma made an unhappy sound.  “Not yet.  I just need to lie here and die right now.”

Regina strode into the diner.  “It’s good to see our sheriff’s department looking so bright and alert and on the job, now, isn’t it?”

Emma just moaned helplessly.

“The usual?” Ruby asked Regina.

Regina cocked her head to one side and eyed Ruby consideringly.  “Yes,” she said.  “Wolf—”

“I have a _name_ ,” Ruby shot back.

“You also have a tendency to attract trouble.  I think you _have_ attracted it recently.  I would be on your guard if I were you.”

Ruby made a face, unsure if that was a threat or not.

Regina smiled and sat at the counter next to Emma.  “Now, breakfast please.”

Emma whimpered.

*          *            *

“ _You_.”

Belle turned from locking the library doors behind her.  Rumpel was standing in the road, watching her.  He was dressed in his Dark One finery and held a large black stone on a leather strap.

“Yes?”

“You _whore._ ”

Belle stiffened.  “I don’t have to stand here and listen to you insult me.  I told you we were through.”

“You told me you were through with it all, with me _and_ the wolf.  And I, graciously, allowed you time.  I wanted you to recover.  To feel safe and comfortable with your memories.  But you have never been more than on loan from me.”

Belle’s hands closed into fists.  “I said I was _done_ with you.  I am _done_ with being your prisoner.  I can’t go back to that.”

“But you’ll go back to the wolf?  I _saw_ you.  I saw you playing the seductress, offering your body to her like the slut you are.”

Belle lifted her chin.  “Yes,” she said.  “I chose to do that.  I chose her.”

Rumpel seemed to swell in fury.  “You chose _her_?  You were supposed to choose me.  You are _always_ supposed to choose me!”

“I don’t belong to you!”

“You chose me!  You chose me before!”

“When I was _blind_.  But I can’t stop seeing what you really are.  Lacey saw it.  Lacey _liked_ it.  But she knew what it meant.  She knew that if she let you get the upper hand, you would hit her with it.”

“ _Belle_ ,” Rumpel protested.  “You’re a good girl.  You know it is only your influence that helps me be better.”

“Good?  I’m not good.  I am Lacey.  I am the person who _likes_ how evil you are, who admires it, is jealous of it, because it means you’re free.”

Rumpel looked confused.

Belle wasn’t sure if it all made sense either.  But it _felt_ true.  She remembered that rise of excitement, that furious joy at the use of power.  It hadn’t been all that different than the feeling that filled her when she had Ruby tied up under her and _bit_.  She shook her head.  “I am only as good as I choose to be.  And do you know _why_ I chose to be good for so long?  Because being good, being perfectly, carefully, impossibly good was the only way I could think of to make sure you wouldn’t hurt me.  And I am _done_ with that.”

“But I love you.  I would never hurt you.”

“You’re proving that by coming here and calling me a whore?  By trying to hurt the people I care about?  By keeping me isolated and miserable so I can’t have any friends?  Ruby left so many bruises on my body that _Leroy_ asked if I was all right.  But she never hurt me like you did.  I _like_ getting bit and manhandled and spanked.  That doesn’t hurt.  What hurts is being told that if I love you, I should trust you and having you betray my trust over and over.”

“I can work on that.” Rumpel pled.  “I promise, I’m trying to be better.”

“You know how you can prove it?  _Let me go_.”

Rumpel’s lips pressed together in a flat line.  “Where’s my incentive?”

Belle bared her teeth.  “You don’t need an incentive to choose to do the right thing!”

“ _You_ did.  You said you were good out of fear.”

“Yes, and that means it wasn’t the right thing.  I should have left you a long time ago.  Love is wonderful but it doesn’t _fix_ you.  You need to choose to be fixed.  Choose the right thing _despite_ all the incentives to the contrary.”

“So the right thing for you is breaking your promises to me?  Is offering yourself to the wolf?”

Belle smiled.  “Yes.”  It was a step, at least, a step in the right direction.  She was breaking the chains and charging toward freedom.

“You don’t _get_ to make that choice.”  His face went ugly, and he raised his hand, the one holding the black stone.  “You belong to me and you will stay with me.  After, oh, fifty years or so in my favorite hell world, you’ll be over her.”

“Get the hell away from me, Rumpelstiltskin!”

The stone crackled, green light and white sparks shooting out from it. 

“Hey!” came a shout.  Emma charged out of the diner, waving a sword. “You stop right there!  Put down the stone!”

“You will _all_ be sorry that you tried to take her from me!”

Green energy shot toward Belle.  But before it hit, she felt herself being tackled from behind, being scooped up and carried.

Regina stepped out of the diner and fixed Rumpel with a look.

“Damn you!” he hissed.  “Damn all of you!  You’ll be sorry!”  He disappeared in a puff of green smoke.  The stone fell onto the asphalt.

Regina pointed at the stone, and it exploded.

Then, of course, Ruby tripped over a root, and they fell sprawling into the grass, Ruby landing on top of her with an “oof.”  Belle tried to breathe for a moment.  God, what had happened?  Had Rumpel tried to kidnap her into another dimension?  Most probably.

And… there was a werewolf on top of her.  She was heavier than she looked.

Ruby propped herself up onto her elbows, letting her hair fall like a curtain around Belle’s face.  She smiled a wolf-smile.  “Hey beautiful.”

“Hey yourself,” Belle replied, barely holding back her laughter.  “You squash.”

“You know it.”

“Thank you for rescuing me.”

“It was an honor.”

Belle ducked her eyes away and bit down on her lower lip.  Ruby’s gaze shifted to her mouth.  “The last thing you called ‘an honor’ was giving me a spanking.”

Ruby flushed red to the tips of her ears, but she offered a brazen smirk that was entirely overcompensating.  “Anything for you.”

“Yeah?” Belle grinned.  “Then kiss me.”

They met in the middle, Belle arching up and wrapping her arms tightly around Ruby’s shoulders and neck.  Ruby offered a chaste, closed-mouthed brush of lips, but Belle would have none of that. Her hand slid to Ruby’s cheek, rubbing her thumb into her jaw until her lips parted.  Ruby sighed and the kiss turned warm and wet.

Belle hooked a leg over Ruby’s and flipped them.  (Lacey knew _all_ the best techniques.)  She straddled Ruby’s hips and leaned down, kissing her again, biting and tugging at her lower lip.  Ruby’s hips rolled under her, and Belle grinned into the kiss.  She broke it and looked down.  Ruby was panting lightly, looking a little stunned and very happy.

“There is one more thing I want from you,” Belle said, seriously.

“Anything…” Ruby managed.

Belle sat back and started unbuttoning her shirt.  Ruby’s eyes went wide.  Belle slipped the shirt down her shoulders.  She pointed to the place right between her shoulder and her neck.  “Bite me.”

“ _Bite you_?”  Ruby’s voice could have been interpreted as breathy with shock, but the tight clench of her thighs was unmistakeable. 

Belle shifted slightly in her seat and drew her finger down Ruby’s neck all the way to her cleavage, enjoying the open collar of her white waitressing shirt.  Then she leaned down and pressed a kiss to her throat.  “I know you know how.  I had that mark on me for three months straight.  I want it _back._ ”

Ruby’s hands came up to clasp her sides, her nails tracing teasing lines across her skin.  Belle ground down into her lap.

“Fuck it, _yes_ ,” Ruby hissed.  She rose like a wave and pushed Belle’s shirt open, burying her face between Belle’s breasts.  Her hands tucked into the cups of her bra and flipped them down.  Her long tongue laved over her nipple, and Belle couldn’t hold back the loud gasp.  She shifted, sliding against Ruby’s hip, and tangled her fingers in her hair, tugging just enough to make Ruby bite.  Leaving her nipples red and slick and aching, Ruby kissed and licked her way up Belle’s chest.  Her hand found where Belle was rubbing hard against her hip and slid between her thighs, making her gasp.  “You close?  You feel close,” Ruby whispered against her skin.  Her fingers twisted slightly and Belle gave a shuddery moan.

“ _Ruby_ …”

And Ruby’s teeth sank into her neck, fingers rubbing hard into her clit though the fabric of her jeans, and Belle’s hips bucked as she came.

Gasping, Belle found herself on all fours, pinning Ruby to the ground.  Her neck stung, and Ruby was watching her with that look she used to give Lacey, aroused and affectionate and overwhelmed all at once.  But this one was for her.  Belle leaned down to kiss her, but was stopped by an embarrassed sounding cough from above.

‘Um, hi,” said Emma.  “You know, not that I’m not glad that we just foiled that kidnapping attempt, and, um, that you guys are back together, or… together for the first time, or whatever, but you are like ten feet from a playground, and I’m going to have to arrest you for public indecency.”

“Emma!” Ruby squeaked.

Belle was suddenly very aware of her discombobulated shirt and upside down bra, and she found that somehow she had pulled apart Ruby’s top until it was missing buttons and had put crazy knots in Ruby’s hair.  She carefully peeked over her shoulder and looked over the small hummock, behind which lay the playground, and caught sight of the rather horrified group of parents with their completely uninterested toddlers.  “Ah,” she said.  “Very well.”

She adjusted her bra and buttoned her shirt.  Then she frowned at Ruby and buttoned as much of her shirt as she could.  Ruby sat up and Belle started trying to tidy her hair. 

“Hey, hey.”  Ruby caught her hands.  “Are you grooming me?”

Belle met her amused eyes and couldn’t help but smile happily back.  “You’re untidy.”

“You’re my favorite.”

“Oh god,” said Emma.  “We only have one cell.  If I promise to give you guys a blanket and lock the door behind me, can we get moving?”

“Sounds good!”  Belle got to her feet and offered Ruby a hand.  “I owe you some sex.”

Ruby turned red again.  “You don’t owe me anything.”

“Not true.”  Belle stepped into her and tugged her down so she could murmur into her ear.  “I owe you three orgasms, one for this, and one for the last time, and one for your daring rescue.  And I want to make them _really good_.”

“I don’t deserve—”

Belle pressed her fingers against her mouth, shutting her up.  “You deserve _everything_ ,” she said, “and don’t you dare deny it.”

Ruby looked astonished.

“Come _on_ you guys.”

*          *            *

“I am not paying their fine if they’re naked in there!”

Ruby looked at Belle who looked back, understanding.  They both dove for their pants.  Ruby was fixing Belle’s buttons by the time Emma got the door unlocked.  Granny strode in and gave them both a sharp look.  “I hope you’ve gotten all your bullshit sorted out.  And I’m expecting _you_ ,” she pointed at Belle, “to make certain she gets in for her shifts on time.”

“I’m on it!”

“Good,” said Granny.  “It’s about time she had a real girlfriend, with her own apartment, where I don’t have to hear you fucking in the shower.”  She glared at Ruby.  “Vents,” she said.  “You and Lacey never figured out _vents_.”

She turned to Emma and started sorting out the fine.  Ruby shifted awkwardly.  Belle turned and pinned her with a look.  “What is it?”

“Are you all right with… with being my girlfriend?” Ruby asked, hating the softness in her voice.

Belle looked surprised.  “If you are.”  She glanced away, biting her lip, so maybe it wasn’t _only_ filthy thoughts.  “I mean, I feel like I can finally ask.  Lacey wanted it, and I might have wanted it before, but I had so much baggage, and it looks like the biggest part of that baggage just took himself to another dimension, so I don’t feel like I’m going to hurt you by being with you anymore.”

Ruby held her shoulders and rubbed them, offering comfort.  “If this isn’t going to make things too awkward, I’m totally in love with you.”

Belle laughed and wrapped her up tight in a hug.  “Not awkward at all.  And I thought it was just Lacey, but you’re the best, and I’m kind of totally in love with you too.”

“I like the incredibly cute confessions of love that happen _after_ you broke a curse on her with true love’s kiss, guys,” said Emma, “but you can exit the cell now.  God, why don’t these windows open?  And where’s the Febreeze?  I need to do some paperwork and now it smells like werewolf sex in here.”


	4. Epilogue

The boundary had come down, completely.  There were normal people coming and talking about buying houses in Storybrooke.  It was a little shocking actually.  But if this was Rumpelstiltzkin’s great revenge, it was a little less terrifying than expected.

“So,” Belle said, looking up at Ruby.  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Ruby gave her a suspicious look.  “That depends on what you’re thinking, and if you’re thinking about testing my gag reflex again, the answer is _no_.”

Belle grinned.  “Actually, I was thinking… roadtrip?”

“Really?”  Ruby jumped onto the bed and bounced to end up on all fours, straddling her.  “Really?  Because _yes_.”

“Michael’s been letting me work on a bike…”

They were a few hundred miles away before they realized that the reason the boundary had fallen was because fairy tale land had smashed straight into this world, and now there were weird patches of enchanted forest popping up, and ogres, and other crazy shit, and panicked normals running around with no idea what to do.

They bought a couple of shotguns at a Walmart and kept going. 

The whole point was adventure, right?  And this one was going to make a really great book.  (It would be banned in six countries for all the explicit sex Belle kept including, Ruby told her.  But Belle just lifted her chin and stated that she had standards of journalistic accuracy to maintain.)

*          *            *

“Hey Emma, yeah, we’re good.”  Ruby grinned into the phone.  “Mm, she’s hustling some guys at pool right now.  I think we’ll have enough for a week or so.  Tell Granny I love her and thanks for the crossbow.”

Belle emerged from the bar, tucking a wad of bills into her bra.  She pulled her hair up, giving it a twist and pinning it in place.  “Emma?” she mouthed.  Ruby nodded.  Belle leaned close to the mouth of the receiver.  “Make sure that Ashley hasn’t fucked up my library,” she yelled.  “I’m coming back.  And when I do it had better be just like I left it!”

Ruby laughed and leaned in to kiss her.

“Oh god,” came the tinny sound of Emma’s voice through the receiver.  “You guys.  You guys?  Are you making out?  We are kind of on the _phone_ here!”

FIN


End file.
